The Ties That Bind
Chapter 2
Destination
“Get up kid, its only been two weeks!”
The kid scowled at him from the ground, and Jiraiya grinned at the orange clad boy. He had been working the gaki hard, quite a bit harder than he had ever trained anybody in fact. He had to grin, even though he was completely exhausted the boy had managed to take it so far. A little break was in order, at least until they found Tsunade. If they managed to convince her to join them she would undoubtedly begin her own training regiment for Naruto.
He’d get a break now, but once it was over he was going to get an even worse workload. Jiraiya almost felt sorry for the boy.
“So Ero-sennin, when are you going to be teaching me some cool new jutsu? Maybe you can give some of the Yondaime’s favorite jutsu?” Naruto asked him.
“No can do kid. I’ve got some information to gather. You get a break while I’m getting it too, though once I’m finished you’ll likely get an even harder work load”, Jiraiya answered.
“Come on old pervert; I know better than that. You’re going to go peep on women like you did to those two travelers we passed. You should do something important instead, like teaching me”, Naruto responded.
Jiraiya gave a quick glare at the brat. For once he had serious business and this brat was accusing him of planning on going and getting his kicks. “Wrong gaki, Tsunade is somewhere in this damn place”, Jiraiya gestured at the town they were approaching. “And I’m going to go find her.”
“What town is this anyway Ero-sennin?”
“Looking for information, that’s good kid. An important rule as a ninja is to know your location, your surroundings to the best of your ability”, Jiraiya told him approvingly. “As for this place, it’s an unimportant little dirtball close to the border of the Fire Country. The only thing it’s known for is its gambling and crime. I should have guessed she would be here. Plenty of places where she can get a fix for her habit and plenty of thieves to liberate money from when she’s in need.” Jiraiya paused for a moment. “God I hope she’s sober when we find her, she gets much more difficult when she’s drunk.” He thought about that and added under his breath, “She always manages to drink me into the ground too.”
“What was that?” Naruto asked, getting to his feet.
“Nothing gaki, nothing.” Jiraiya took a long look at the town and started walking again, his student following.
After a few minutes of walking his student couldn’t keep quiet. “So, she has some pretty bad habits?” Naruto asked him.
Jiraiya nodded at the boy. “She has a massive gambling problem. And she always loses. Tsunade has definitely earned her nickname; The Legendary Sucker. She usually pays for her fix by going after and taking money from criminals. She’ll make herself seem like an easy target and when they try to mug her she puts them down.”
Naruto sniffed, “This hag sounds even more unreliable than you. Why is the old man making us come and get her?”
Jiraiya frowned at the insult to himself. “She may be self destructive now, but she did manage to raise herself and her brother on her own. She has experience with kids and actually does a very good job with them. I don’t want the responsibility. I can help but taking care of you full time will cut into my research time.”
“Humph. So you don’t want to deal with me full time so you can go be perverted. I shouldn’t be surprised from what I’ve seen of you so far.”
He sniffed at that. The brat wasn’t thinking again. With more experience he might have realized that as a ninja he wouldn’t be able to go around doing nothing but peeking. He might have realized that with receiving no normal missions that there was only one thing that Jiraiya could be wandering around for; spying. He wondered how long it would take him to realize that fact. In fact, he thought, it might even make a good bet to make with Tsunade if she came with them.
He looked up at the gate, “We’re here Gaki. Let’s find our woman.”
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She slammed her drink into the table. Gone, all of it gone. Her money lost, just like them. She poured herself another glass and downed it in a single gulp. It hurt so much. They just had to die. He just had to betray them. Her two families ripped apart. No one should have to go through that once, much less three times like she had. At least she had taken his betrayal better than that pervert did.
She chuckled to herself. For the longest time he wouldn’t accept that the bastard had turned his back on them and everything they cared about. He kept trying to bring him back; he even stopped peeking for some time! She started to laugh out loud.
“Tsunade-sama, perhaps you’ve had enough.”
Tsunade glared at Shizune, noting that it didn’t have much of an effect. The young woman had gotten used to her and her moods.
“It’s not good that I have to carry you home nearly every night Tsunade-sama”, she continued; disapproval clear in her voice.
Tsunade hadn’t listened, too dumbstruck be what she was seeing. “What in hell is HE doing here? And why is he with a CHILD!”
Shizune turned around toward the entrance and gasped. “Jiraiya-sama”, she continued.
She put on her worst frown and meanest glare. Jiraiya’s presence could only mean one thing. Trouble.
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Naruto looked at the women they were approaching. Both were too young to be the woman they were after. One was very young; perhaps a teenager with black hair and a slim build. The other one was blond and looked to be about twenty-five. She also had biggest bust he’d ever seen. Maybe they knew where she was. Nodding to himself, he couldn’t help but applaud his own logic.
“It’s been some time Tsunade,” Jiraiya said.
Naruto looked at his teacher and then the two women confused. The dark haired one stood up.
Walking up to he addressed her, “So you’re this hag I’ve been hearing about.” Ignoring the woman’s confused expression and the others furious one he continued, “Why do you look so young Tsunade-baachan? I thought you would be wrinkled and nasty. You look like a teenager.”
The woman looked him up and down, “Umm, I’m not Tsunade-sama young man. My name is Shizune.”
At the same time the other woman spoke up, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GAKI! CALLING ME A HAG! AND WHY WOULD I BE WRINKLED!”
Naruto blinked and glanced between the two women. He gave them his most mischievous grin before continuing. He looked at the dark haired young woman, “Sorry Shizune-neechan, my mistake.” He turned to the other one, obviously Tsunade. “Are you going to answer my question?”
Naruto had to admit, the woman looked ready to explode. She also looked dead drunk. And the old man wanted her to take care of him? He snorted under his breath.
“Now now Tsunade. Just ignore the gaki. He’s a natural troublemaker”, Jiraiya quickly added in.
Seemingly with a great deal of effort, the woman managed to calm herself down. “So why are you here Jiraiya? Peeping around and you just managed to run into me by luck? And who is this anyway?” she asked.
His teacher grinned at her. “This old friend, is my new apprentice; Uzumaki Naruto.”
Tsunade and Shizune both gave him a look of grim understanding. Naruto cursed in his head; both seemed to know his secret.
Jiraiya continued, “And the reason we’re here is because Sarutobi-sensei has a new mission for you, one you’ll be sharing with me.”
Tsunade jumped. Naruto flinched, she also looked even more furious than before. “What did you say Jiraiya”, she said in an icy cold voice. Naruto shivered. “Sensei gave me the impression that I didn’t have to do any missions; that I’m officially on an extended training mission.”
The old man didn’t look concerned. “Something important came up.” He held out a folded not to her. “Here are the mission details.”
She snatched the note away from him and read it quickly, her eyes going wide. She looked up; her light brown eyes seemed like ice. “Sensei has lost his mind. There is no way in hell I’m taking this brat in.”
Naruto grunted indignantly. “And why won’t you? You think you’re too good for me old hag?”
Tsunade chuckled at him and burped slightly. “Yes for that question. And why should I Gaki? Can you give me a single reason I should bother taking you?”
“I’m too good for an old drunk hag like you! You’re looking at the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf!”
Tsunade looked at him incredulously. And then she started to laugh. Naruto looked at her, feeling confused. She eventually managed to control herself and answered him. “I thought you were and idiot before Gaki, but you just proved it. Hokage is an idiot’s job and only a fool would take it. Only fools have taken it.”
Naruto just stared at her before fury hit him. “YOU OLD BITCH! I WON’T LET YOU TALK THAT WAY!” Naruto jumped at her, ready to pound her into the dirt. And was promptly grabbed by the back of his shirt and held up helplessly by the old pervert.
“Listen kid, attacking her isn’t a good idea. She’ll rip you in half.”
“Let me go Ero-sennin! I don’t care how good she is, I’m going to kick her ass!”
Tsunade stepped up to him and grabbed him by the jaw. “You really are and idiot Gaki. If you really think you can beat me, why don’t we make a wager?”
“Now Tsunade, lets not be hasty”, Jiraiya sounded worried.
“I agree hag! Lets take this outside!”
Naruto heard Jiraiya sigh as Tsunade lead the way out to the street, while she was laughing quietly.
________________________________________________________________________
“I have the perfect wager gaki. If you can manage to land one clean hit on me, I’ll not only agree to look after you, I’ll train you to the best of my ability.” Tsunade smiled at him. “I’ll even come back to Konoha when your training is done and become an active shinobi again.”
“Tsunade-sama, this is a bad idea”, Shizune murmured.
“What’s the catch Tsunade-baachan”, he challenged.
“If I win without you landing a hit, you have to give up on being a ninja. On your dreams.” She smirked at him. “You should walk away now; this is one bet I can’t lose.”
The gaki had the nerve to grin at her. “We’ll see about that hag. Aren’t you the ‘Legendary Sucker’?” He charged her with that statement.
Tsunade watched his charge carefully. She wasn’t worried but it would be idiotic to have her guard down while she was drunk. Disastrous even, she couldn’t lose this bet. She was not going back.
The gaki’s hand slipped into his shuriken hostler and from the movements in his wrist she knew he had grabbed three. Ready to dodge she was completely unprepared as he threw them. Tsunade couldn’t help but chuckle as all of them missed her at least five feet.
His form was wrong in every way. When he had put his hand into the hostler it was clear he hadn’t familiarized himself with the movement, running the risk of cutting himself on his own weapons by drawing them as fast as he could. His hold on the projectiles was wrong, two of the shuriken were held too tightly while the other one was too loose. Finally the snap in his fingers was wrong, not only throwing off his aim but telegraphing where he was throwing.
“Have you ever even seen a lesson on how to do that properly? I’ve never seen a worse technique in my life”, she insulted.
“Shut up bitch, it’s not my fault the teachers wouldn’t show me how to do it right”, he growled as he jumped in the air. He pulled his foot all the way back; either this was going to be the most obvious kick ever thrown or the worst feint she’d ever seen. He kicked at her as hard as he could but the chuckling woman bent slightly, ducking the attack. With a quick flick of her arm, she sent him hard into the ground about twenty feet away. An easy win for her.
She looked at him and couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. The fool boy was actually getting up.
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Naruto was shocked to say the least. The woman had barely touched him and it still felt as if he had been kicked by a horse. It just wasn’t natural for anyone to be that strong.
“What’s the problem Gaki? Underestimated just how hard I could hit you?”
Naruto glared at her. “How do you do that?”
Tsunade chuckled. “That was a special chakra control jutsu developed by the Shodaime. It’s been passed on to his descendants, so that his grand-daughter now possesses the technique. That’s me if you didn’t realize idiot.”
“No I didn’t realize. I didn’t think someone your age would have grandparents.”
The hags face became murderous. “That’s it boy, you lose now.” The woman charged him.
Naruto was scared; he couldn’t afford to lose this bet. He grabbed a kunai from the pouch on his hip and with a finger in its ring he began to spin it. This was it; all or nothing on this one charge. With a quick gesture, he created two kage bunshins to lead, and hopefully to give him an opening. His opponent wasn’t fazed at all.
She snorted, “Even though this is a good jutsu, its still you using it. It won’t help you.” With a casual movement as she passed, she grabbed and slammed one of his bunshins into the other, destroying both of them. Naruto jumped at her, swinging his spinning weapon at her head. “You’re too slow!” she screamed leaning backwards and dodging the attack.
Naruto cursed in pain. She was starting forward, ready to attack. He started to bring his foot around, knowing he wouldn’t be able to land the kick before she connected with her attack.
And she stopped, her face frozen. He wasn’t going to let the opening pass. With a cry, Naruto continued his kick and landed it clean on the hag’s jaw.
Shuffling back a few steps, Tsunade sat down heavily. She was staring at him, at his wrist. Naruto looked at it. What was the matter with this woman; he had just cut himself with his kunai while he was trying to be fancy. He looked at her; Shizune-neechan was kneeling next to her cleaning up the little bit of blood that had landed on her face.
Someone grabbed his hand. Biting back a yelp of pain the boy looked up at Jiraiya who was taking out a bandage for him. While he was bandaging the wound, he answered the question he had thought to himself.
“She’s a hemiophobic. She has an extreme fear of blood. You got lucky this time Gaki; I’d suggest staying away from such risky bets in the future.”
He’d won. Naruto grinned; he had beaten one of the legendary Three Ninjas. How many others could say something like that? He looked up at his teacher, “Why do you say that Ero-sennin, I knew I was going to win.”
“Idiot, you only won this bet because you’re so bad with weapons you managed to cut yourself on your own kunai. Next time you probably won’t be so lucky.”
Naruto looked down in shame. His perverted teacher was right. He had won only on luck. It was the same with his fight back in the village. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to be able to surprise Mizuki with knowing a jutsu he shouldn’t have, would he have won that fight? Did he have anything other than luck?
“I want to get stronger. I want to be able to win with my skills alone.”
Jiraiya grinned at him. “That’s what I’m here for kid. Her too now that she’s lost another bet”, he gestured toward the woman who was just getting up to her feet.
Tsunade walked over to them with a noticeably barely controlled fury. “I can’t believe this. What did I promise you again brat?”
Depression gone at the beginning of her sentence, the boy smiled at her. “Nothing much Tsunade-baachan. You just have to watch me instead of this pervert over here. Some training too. Oh, and you promised to go back to Konoha and be a ninja again. Wow, you really shouldn’t have bragged so much hag.”
Jiraiya, Shizune, and the rest of the block winced as the woman’s fist met with the boy’s skull. Grabbing him by his belt; Tsunade slung him over her shoulder and started walking away, a sway in her steps.
“Maybe you should let me carry him, at least until you sober up old friend.” Jiraiya froze as a massive amount of killing intent stopped him cold. Sweat started to run down the back of his neck.
Orochimaru would have run away from her if he had ever seen the look that was in her eyes. “I’m going to emasculate you for this Jiraiya.”
Grabbing his crotch, the old pervert winced. “Be considerate of my children Tsunade.”
She barked a laugh. “As if any woman would be willing old man.”
________________________________________________________________________
“Focus on the book!”
Naruto looked up at the woman. Sheesh, he wanted training, and she was trying to get him to sit down and read this boring ass book. “I want training hag. It’s not like I’m going to be a merchant.”
One punch to the head later, “I’m a medic Nin brat. The most basic fundamental of our taijutsu style and any jutsu that you want to learn from me is knowledge of the human body and how it works. So if you ever want any kind of training from me, you’ll study and like it.”
He looked at the book. He knew she was strong. Was she strong enough to go through this hell though? He looked up and sweated as Tsunade cracked her knuckles. He had his face in the book instantly. It couldn’t be that hard. As he tried to understand his studies the sweat pouring down his back testified to the truth of that thought.
Naruto suppressed a violent thought as Jiraiya laughed. “In the two weeks that I had him before we met up with you I couldn’t get him to pick up a single book. You haven’t lost it at all.”
Tsunade had a distinct look of pride as she held her chin up.
Naruto had the sinking feeling that he would be through hell before he made it back home.
Destination
“Get up kid, its only been two weeks!”
The kid scowled at him from the ground, and Jiraiya grinned at the orange clad boy. He had been working the gaki hard, quite a bit harder than he had ever trained anybody in fact. He had to grin, even though he was completely exhausted the boy had managed to take it so far. A little break was in order, at least until they found Tsunade. If they managed to convince her to join them she would undoubtedly begin her own training regiment for Naruto.
He’d get a break now, but once it was over he was going to get an even worse workload. Jiraiya almost felt sorry for the boy.
“So Ero-sennin, when are you going to be teaching me some cool new jutsu? Maybe you can give some of the Yondaime’s favorite jutsu?” Naruto asked him.
“No can do kid. I’ve got some information to gather. You get a break while I’m getting it too, though once I’m finished you’ll likely get an even harder work load”, Jiraiya answered.
“Come on old pervert; I know better than that. You’re going to go peep on women like you did to those two travelers we passed. You should do something important instead, like teaching me”, Naruto responded.
Jiraiya gave a quick glare at the brat. For once he had serious business and this brat was accusing him of planning on going and getting his kicks. “Wrong gaki, Tsunade is somewhere in this damn place”, Jiraiya gestured at the town they were approaching. “And I’m going to go find her.”
“What town is this anyway Ero-sennin?”
“Looking for information, that’s good kid. An important rule as a ninja is to know your location, your surroundings to the best of your ability”, Jiraiya told him approvingly. “As for this place, it’s an unimportant little dirtball close to the border of the Fire Country. The only thing it’s known for is its gambling and crime. I should have guessed she would be here. Plenty of places where she can get a fix for her habit and plenty of thieves to liberate money from when she’s in need.” Jiraiya paused for a moment. “God I hope she’s sober when we find her, she gets much more difficult when she’s drunk.” He thought about that and added under his breath, “She always manages to drink me into the ground too.”
“What was that?” Naruto asked, getting to his feet.
“Nothing gaki, nothing.” Jiraiya took a long look at the town and started walking again, his student following.
After a few minutes of walking his student couldn’t keep quiet. “So, she has some pretty bad habits?” Naruto asked him.
Jiraiya nodded at the boy. “She has a massive gambling problem. And she always loses. Tsunade has definitely earned her nickname; The Legendary Sucker. She usually pays for her fix by going after and taking money from criminals. She’ll make herself seem like an easy target and when they try to mug her she puts them down.”
Naruto sniffed, “This hag sounds even more unreliable than you. Why is the old man making us come and get her?”
Jiraiya frowned at the insult to himself. “She may be self destructive now, but she did manage to raise herself and her brother on her own. She has experience with kids and actually does a very good job with them. I don’t want the responsibility. I can help but taking care of you full time will cut into my research time.”
“Humph. So you don’t want to deal with me full time so you can go be perverted. I shouldn’t be surprised from what I’ve seen of you so far.”
He sniffed at that. The brat wasn’t thinking again. With more experience he might have realized that as a ninja he wouldn’t be able to go around doing nothing but peeking. He might have realized that with receiving no normal missions that there was only one thing that Jiraiya could be wandering around for; spying. He wondered how long it would take him to realize that fact. In fact, he thought, it might even make a good bet to make with Tsunade if she came with them.
He looked up at the gate, “We’re here Gaki. Let’s find our woman.”
________________________________________________________________________
She slammed her drink into the table. Gone, all of it gone. Her money lost, just like them. She poured herself another glass and downed it in a single gulp. It hurt so much. They just had to die. He just had to betray them. Her two families ripped apart. No one should have to go through that once, much less three times like she had. At least she had taken his betrayal better than that pervert did.
She chuckled to herself. For the longest time he wouldn’t accept that the bastard had turned his back on them and everything they cared about. He kept trying to bring him back; he even stopped peeking for some time! She started to laugh out loud.
“Tsunade-sama, perhaps you’ve had enough.”
Tsunade glared at Shizune, noting that it didn’t have much of an effect. The young woman had gotten used to her and her moods.
“It’s not good that I have to carry you home nearly every night Tsunade-sama”, she continued; disapproval clear in her voice.
Tsunade hadn’t listened, too dumbstruck be what she was seeing. “What in hell is HE doing here? And why is he with a CHILD!”
Shizune turned around toward the entrance and gasped. “Jiraiya-sama”, she continued.
She put on her worst frown and meanest glare. Jiraiya’s presence could only mean one thing. Trouble.
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Naruto looked at the women they were approaching. Both were too young to be the woman they were after. One was very young; perhaps a teenager with black hair and a slim build. The other one was blond and looked to be about twenty-five. She also had biggest bust he’d ever seen. Maybe they knew where she was. Nodding to himself, he couldn’t help but applaud his own logic.
“It’s been some time Tsunade,” Jiraiya said.
Naruto looked at his teacher and then the two women confused. The dark haired one stood up.
Walking up to he addressed her, “So you’re this hag I’ve been hearing about.” Ignoring the woman’s confused expression and the others furious one he continued, “Why do you look so young Tsunade-baachan? I thought you would be wrinkled and nasty. You look like a teenager.”
The woman looked him up and down, “Umm, I’m not Tsunade-sama young man. My name is Shizune.”
At the same time the other woman spoke up, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GAKI! CALLING ME A HAG! AND WHY WOULD I BE WRINKLED!”
Naruto blinked and glanced between the two women. He gave them his most mischievous grin before continuing. He looked at the dark haired young woman, “Sorry Shizune-neechan, my mistake.” He turned to the other one, obviously Tsunade. “Are you going to answer my question?”
Naruto had to admit, the woman looked ready to explode. She also looked dead drunk. And the old man wanted her to take care of him? He snorted under his breath.
“Now now Tsunade. Just ignore the gaki. He’s a natural troublemaker”, Jiraiya quickly added in.
Seemingly with a great deal of effort, the woman managed to calm herself down. “So why are you here Jiraiya? Peeping around and you just managed to run into me by luck? And who is this anyway?” she asked.
His teacher grinned at her. “This old friend, is my new apprentice; Uzumaki Naruto.”
Tsunade and Shizune both gave him a look of grim understanding. Naruto cursed in his head; both seemed to know his secret.
Jiraiya continued, “And the reason we’re here is because Sarutobi-sensei has a new mission for you, one you’ll be sharing with me.”
Tsunade jumped. Naruto flinched, she also looked even more furious than before. “What did you say Jiraiya”, she said in an icy cold voice. Naruto shivered. “Sensei gave me the impression that I didn’t have to do any missions; that I’m officially on an extended training mission.”
The old man didn’t look concerned. “Something important came up.” He held out a folded not to her. “Here are the mission details.”
She snatched the note away from him and read it quickly, her eyes going wide. She looked up; her light brown eyes seemed like ice. “Sensei has lost his mind. There is no way in hell I’m taking this brat in.”
Naruto grunted indignantly. “And why won’t you? You think you’re too good for me old hag?”
Tsunade chuckled at him and burped slightly. “Yes for that question. And why should I Gaki? Can you give me a single reason I should bother taking you?”
“I’m too good for an old drunk hag like you! You’re looking at the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf!”
Tsunade looked at him incredulously. And then she started to laugh. Naruto looked at her, feeling confused. She eventually managed to control herself and answered him. “I thought you were and idiot before Gaki, but you just proved it. Hokage is an idiot’s job and only a fool would take it. Only fools have taken it.”
Naruto just stared at her before fury hit him. “YOU OLD BITCH! I WON’T LET YOU TALK THAT WAY!” Naruto jumped at her, ready to pound her into the dirt. And was promptly grabbed by the back of his shirt and held up helplessly by the old pervert.
“Listen kid, attacking her isn’t a good idea. She’ll rip you in half.”
“Let me go Ero-sennin! I don’t care how good she is, I’m going to kick her ass!”
Tsunade stepped up to him and grabbed him by the jaw. “You really are and idiot Gaki. If you really think you can beat me, why don’t we make a wager?”
“Now Tsunade, lets not be hasty”, Jiraiya sounded worried.
“I agree hag! Lets take this outside!”
Naruto heard Jiraiya sigh as Tsunade lead the way out to the street, while she was laughing quietly.
________________________________________________________________________
“I have the perfect wager gaki. If you can manage to land one clean hit on me, I’ll not only agree to look after you, I’ll train you to the best of my ability.” Tsunade smiled at him. “I’ll even come back to Konoha when your training is done and become an active shinobi again.”
“Tsunade-sama, this is a bad idea”, Shizune murmured.
“What’s the catch Tsunade-baachan”, he challenged.
“If I win without you landing a hit, you have to give up on being a ninja. On your dreams.” She smirked at him. “You should walk away now; this is one bet I can’t lose.”
The gaki had the nerve to grin at her. “We’ll see about that hag. Aren’t you the ‘Legendary Sucker’?” He charged her with that statement.
Tsunade watched his charge carefully. She wasn’t worried but it would be idiotic to have her guard down while she was drunk. Disastrous even, she couldn’t lose this bet. She was not going back.
The gaki’s hand slipped into his shuriken hostler and from the movements in his wrist she knew he had grabbed three. Ready to dodge she was completely unprepared as he threw them. Tsunade couldn’t help but chuckle as all of them missed her at least five feet.
His form was wrong in every way. When he had put his hand into the hostler it was clear he hadn’t familiarized himself with the movement, running the risk of cutting himself on his own weapons by drawing them as fast as he could. His hold on the projectiles was wrong, two of the shuriken were held too tightly while the other one was too loose. Finally the snap in his fingers was wrong, not only throwing off his aim but telegraphing where he was throwing.
“Have you ever even seen a lesson on how to do that properly? I’ve never seen a worse technique in my life”, she insulted.
“Shut up bitch, it’s not my fault the teachers wouldn’t show me how to do it right”, he growled as he jumped in the air. He pulled his foot all the way back; either this was going to be the most obvious kick ever thrown or the worst feint she’d ever seen. He kicked at her as hard as he could but the chuckling woman bent slightly, ducking the attack. With a quick flick of her arm, she sent him hard into the ground about twenty feet away. An easy win for her.
She looked at him and couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. The fool boy was actually getting up.
________________________________________________________________________
Naruto was shocked to say the least. The woman had barely touched him and it still felt as if he had been kicked by a horse. It just wasn’t natural for anyone to be that strong.
“What’s the problem Gaki? Underestimated just how hard I could hit you?”
Naruto glared at her. “How do you do that?”
Tsunade chuckled. “That was a special chakra control jutsu developed by the Shodaime. It’s been passed on to his descendants, so that his grand-daughter now possesses the technique. That’s me if you didn’t realize idiot.”
“No I didn’t realize. I didn’t think someone your age would have grandparents.”
The hags face became murderous. “That’s it boy, you lose now.” The woman charged him.
Naruto was scared; he couldn’t afford to lose this bet. He grabbed a kunai from the pouch on his hip and with a finger in its ring he began to spin it. This was it; all or nothing on this one charge. With a quick gesture, he created two kage bunshins to lead, and hopefully to give him an opening. His opponent wasn’t fazed at all.
She snorted, “Even though this is a good jutsu, its still you using it. It won’t help you.” With a casual movement as she passed, she grabbed and slammed one of his bunshins into the other, destroying both of them. Naruto jumped at her, swinging his spinning weapon at her head. “You’re too slow!” she screamed leaning backwards and dodging the attack.
Naruto cursed in pain. She was starting forward, ready to attack. He started to bring his foot around, knowing he wouldn’t be able to land the kick before she connected with her attack.
And she stopped, her face frozen. He wasn’t going to let the opening pass. With a cry, Naruto continued his kick and landed it clean on the hag’s jaw.
Shuffling back a few steps, Tsunade sat down heavily. She was staring at him, at his wrist. Naruto looked at it. What was the matter with this woman; he had just cut himself with his kunai while he was trying to be fancy. He looked at her; Shizune-neechan was kneeling next to her cleaning up the little bit of blood that had landed on her face.
Someone grabbed his hand. Biting back a yelp of pain the boy looked up at Jiraiya who was taking out a bandage for him. While he was bandaging the wound, he answered the question he had thought to himself.
“She’s a hemiophobic. She has an extreme fear of blood. You got lucky this time Gaki; I’d suggest staying away from such risky bets in the future.”
He’d won. Naruto grinned; he had beaten one of the legendary Three Ninjas. How many others could say something like that? He looked up at his teacher, “Why do you say that Ero-sennin, I knew I was going to win.”
“Idiot, you only won this bet because you’re so bad with weapons you managed to cut yourself on your own kunai. Next time you probably won’t be so lucky.”
Naruto looked down in shame. His perverted teacher was right. He had won only on luck. It was the same with his fight back in the village. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to be able to surprise Mizuki with knowing a jutsu he shouldn’t have, would he have won that fight? Did he have anything other than luck?
“I want to get stronger. I want to be able to win with my skills alone.”
Jiraiya grinned at him. “That’s what I’m here for kid. Her too now that she’s lost another bet”, he gestured toward the woman who was just getting up to her feet.
Tsunade walked over to them with a noticeably barely controlled fury. “I can’t believe this. What did I promise you again brat?”
Depression gone at the beginning of her sentence, the boy smiled at her. “Nothing much Tsunade-baachan. You just have to watch me instead of this pervert over here. Some training too. Oh, and you promised to go back to Konoha and be a ninja again. Wow, you really shouldn’t have bragged so much hag.”
Jiraiya, Shizune, and the rest of the block winced as the woman’s fist met with the boy’s skull. Grabbing him by his belt; Tsunade slung him over her shoulder and started walking away, a sway in her steps.
“Maybe you should let me carry him, at least until you sober up old friend.” Jiraiya froze as a massive amount of killing intent stopped him cold. Sweat started to run down the back of his neck.
Orochimaru would have run away from her if he had ever seen the look that was in her eyes. “I’m going to emasculate you for this Jiraiya.”
Grabbing his crotch, the old pervert winced. “Be considerate of my children Tsunade.”
She barked a laugh. “As if any woman would be willing old man.”
________________________________________________________________________
“Focus on the book!”
Naruto looked up at the woman. Sheesh, he wanted training, and she was trying to get him to sit down and read this boring ass book. “I want training hag. It’s not like I’m going to be a merchant.”
One punch to the head later, “I’m a medic Nin brat. The most basic fundamental of our taijutsu style and any jutsu that you want to learn from me is knowledge of the human body and how it works. So if you ever want any kind of training from me, you’ll study and like it.”
He looked at the book. He knew she was strong. Was she strong enough to go through this hell though? He looked up and sweated as Tsunade cracked her knuckles. He had his face in the book instantly. It couldn’t be that hard. As he tried to understand his studies the sweat pouring down his back testified to the truth of that thought.
Naruto suppressed a violent thought as Jiraiya laughed. “In the two weeks that I had him before we met up with you I couldn’t get him to pick up a single book. You haven’t lost it at all.”
Tsunade had a distinct look of pride as she held her chin up.
Naruto had the sinking feeling that he would be through hell before he made it back home.