Chapter 34

Turns out, Jiraiya didn't find out until he had finished his time at the brothel .When it came to pay, it was then he realized that the money he was holding wasn't real money, just paper. He had to be from his own pocket, to his immense regret. Naruto watched in amusement as Jiraiya proceeded to glare at him for the next three days. He never took his wallet again, though. However, it was during his usual bar rounds on which he was finally able to pin Tsunade down.

Turns out, that Tanzaku town is having a big festival. The town was already a tourist place with its hot springs, theatres and not to mention casinos.

So it confused Naruto that they started moving even slower than before. "Shouldn't we hurry up and catch her in Tanzaku before she gets away?"

Jiraiya grinned at Naruto, "If we do that, she would know for sure that we're there for her and she'll bolt. We can't spook her just yet, so we'll get there a couple days after her and make it look like we just happened to run into each other. See?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, but I'm sure I will in sometime."

"Putting Tsunade aside, how's the rubber ball coming? It's been nineteen days."

Naruto released a breath, "I have a question for you instead."

Jiraiya frowned, "Ok, shoot."

" What….just what am I supposed to ultimately achieve?"

Jiraiya chuckled with a grin, "I was wondering when you'd ask that." "Come on, let's go over to that tree over there!" He led Naruto to over a sizeable tree on the side of the road.

"Watch my hand, alright?" He requested, left hand held up. Naruto watched, amazed, as the chakra swirled and thickened, forming a swirling, spiraling sphere. He could feel the slightest sensation of wind coming from the spinning, visible ball of chakra. Jiraiya's hand reared back and then with great force, he thrust it into the tree's trunk. Naruto was disappointed to see that when the jutsu dispelled, there was only a small, but deep gash in the tree trunk.

"That's it?"

Jiraiya, as if he had read his thoughts, smirked and pointed to the tree, "Look behind it."

Naruto moved around to view the back of the tree and whistled at the sight. The back of the tree had completely exploded outwards. It as a wonder the tree was still standing. "Ok, that is impressive." He tapped the bark of the tree lightly, and watched with eyebrows raised as the tree completely fell.

He turned to Jiraiya in excitement, "Who made it?"

The wickedly grinning sage said, "Your father, of course."

Naruto smiled softly in pride, still admiring the aftereffects of the jutsu. "Tou-san, huh? I guess I shouldn't be amazed. Tou-san was pretty amazing after all."

"Pretty amazing doesn't even cover it. But it took him almost three years to create this. I wonder how long will it take you to master this?" Jiraiya challenged.

Naruto smirked, "Now that I know what to do now, no time at all." With that, he went at the ball with renewed vigor.

One hour later, he popped the ball. He finally figured out the trick behind the second step.

The second step involved power. He had to increase, concentrate the volume and density of his chakra inside the ball, increase the pressure so much that the ball burst. It took him a fair amount of concentration to do it, but once he had the gist of how he had to do it, he began popping the remaining balls just like water balloons- with the other hand and with both hands together. The result was that his hands started trembling uncontrollably from the overuse of chakra. Naruto had almost panicked had Jiraiya not explained it to him that he probably hadn't used his chakra from his hands before in this way, so it was a process of getting used to it. He had to grow past the pain threshold if he was to perfectly use the rasengan.

The next day, they arrived in Tanzaku town. Jiraiya told him that he would explain the third and the last step of the jutsu once they were in their hotel room. For the present, they were just enjoying the sights, when Naruto suddenly asked an unusual question.

"Ero-sennin, how good are you at gambling?"

Jiraiya blinked at the random query, but answered nonetheless, "I'm not particularly bad at it, if that's what you are asking."

Naruto nodded, "Good. Then-"

He was cut off when people suddenly started running in the opposite direction of where they were facing. He muttered with narrowed eyes as he sensed a high influx of chakra. "What the hell?"

Jiraiya suddenly took off, forcing Naruto to follow him. Naruto followed as well, both heading towards the massive source of chakra, to the castle on top of a hill. Arriving there, they gaped at the level of destruction. Walls were crumbled to dust and debris, holes and gashes in the ground leading the two to believe either someone was murdered or there was a massive battle.

"Looks like our snake friend met up with Tsunade," Jiraiya surmised, looking around the scene.

"Orochimaru?" Naruto muttered, looking around for some sort of clue. It seemed reasonable as he had burnt off his arms. Why he didn't just sprout another body from his mouth instead of looking for Tsunade was beyond Naruto.

"Let's give her some time to cool off. Naruto, the third step to the rasengan is combining the first two. See you around!" And then he was gone in a swirl of leaves. Naruto glared at the spot, before sighing.

"I guess I should have expected that."

XXXXXXX

"Orochimaru-sama, I still don't understand why we came here to talk to Tsunade. You could have simply sprouted a new body to heal them." Kabuto commented as he sat by his master.

Orochimaru smiled with a wicked glint in his eyes as he looked down at his completely burnt hands. It was only because of high tolerance of pain he had built over the years that he wasn't screaming. "There are many things you have yet to learn, Kabuto. I did not shred my skin because Tsunade has a jutsu that I need."

"A jutsu?"

Golden slitted eyes twinkled dangerously, "Yes. One that can heal any injury. One that has the potential to bring back people from the dead."

XXXXXXX

Naruto spent the rest of the day until evening in their hotel room, trying to combine the two steps. He made a startling and a very pleasant discovery that it was not very difficult like the previous step. Here he was now, panting lightly as he gazed with pride at the ball of spinning chakra between his hands. He had done it! He had actually done it! He could feel the power in the rasengan, and it was enough to destroy someone's guts in a matter of seconds.

He released the hold on his chakra, causing the rasengan to dissipate. He leaned back against the tree, feeling a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. It had taken him a total of twenty days to learn his father's most prized jutsu!

"Finally! Now I can begin to master it!" He breathed out. He frowned as he thought of his father. The man was legendary, known for his speed and rasengan. It must take him only an instant to form it, with one hand. Right, Naruto needed ten seconds and both hands to form it. "Man, this is going to take a while.

He trained for another hour, and managed to bring the time down to three seconds. A big improvement, but still done with two hands. He figured that if he learned to instantly form it with two hands, doing it with one hand might become easier. Of course, at one point, the idea of using shadow clones to hasten the process had come to mind, but was immediately discarded. His father had taken three years to create the jutsu and master it all by himself. It would be cheap and insulting his memory if he used an easy way out.

He was about to try again when he heard the voice. "That was very good, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up to see Jiraiya sitting on the windowsill, grinning. He smirked, "Thanks. Took me the whole day to get to where I am."

Jiraiya came in and ruffled his hair. "You managed to master the rasengan in twenty days! This is ridiculous and all kinds of absurd! Even I took seven months to learn it! You really are a genius, kid!"

Naruto frowned and shook his head, "Learn, not master, ero-sennin. Master is when I am able to form it with one hand in an instant," he emphasized by snapping his fingers.

Jiraiya stared at him and asked, "You are a perfectionist when it comes to jutsu, aren't you?"

Naruto shrugged and got up, "I have to, to make sure I don't waste chakra while using it." He put on his jacket and zipped it up. While tying his sash around his forehead, he turned to a bewildered Jiraiya.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto paused momentarily, "I think we've given enough time for Tsunade to cool down, haven't we?"

Jiraiya's expression turned into one that told Naruto he had actually forgotten what they came here to do. "Yeah, let's go!"

AN: That's the end of it. Sorry about the weak reason for Orochimaru, I didn't think up far enough. Here's something to make up for it!

Omake

Naruto and Jiraiya entered the gambling den. According to Jiraiya, this is where they would find the most information concerning Tsunade's whereabouts. They would start early next morning, make the two hour walk to Tanzaku. Jiraiya made his way towards a gambler with Naruto following, holding a rubber ball. Even though he had popped the ball hours earlier, it was fun to play with. At least his hands had something to do.

Jiraiya held up a picture of Tsunade, the same one he had shown to Naruto. "Have you seen this woman?"

The gambler, one with an afro style of hair, looked at the photo closely before making a sound of realization, "I have indeed. She said she was heading 'there' to win back her losses."

Jiraiya made a perplexed face, "What do you mean, 'there'?"

The gambler smirked, "Tell you what, why don't we trade. If you win, I'll tell you where she is for free. If I win, you'll have to pay a 1000 ryo for the info. What do you say?"

Naruto had a bad feeling about this, but he couldn't say the same for Jiraiya. "Alright!" Jiraiya sat down, apparently about to enjoy the little gamble he just walked into. Naruto rolled the rubber ball in his hand thoughtfully. The gambler wasn't suffering any loss by giving them the information. They were the ones looking for Tsunade, not him. On the other hand, they would lose a 1000 ryo if Jiraiya lost. Either way, it was the gambler's victory.

He would have to be vigilant.

The gambler shook the opaque glass with the dice in it and slammed it down, bottoms up. "Choose. Chou, or Han!"

Jiraiya made a thoughtful sound as he gazed at the glass. After a moment of thinking, he smirked and slammed his hand on the floor. "Chou!"

The gambler smirked in return, "If it's Han, it's my victory."

Naruto activated his danger sense, the perception slowing down for him. He peeked at the dice the moment the glass was lifted. And lo, his instincts ran true.

Jiraiya was about to lose a 1000 ryo.

Chakra swirled inside the rubber ball in the span of an instant. Naruto purposely overloaded it, for instead of the normal pop, it exploded with air that was compressed in high amounts. It easily knocked over the gambler in front of them and the other one in the room, who was playing with some other guy.

Jiraiya seemed to not notice it at all, for he was mournfully muttering. "A 1000 ryo…"

Naruto nudged his master, nodding the man to look at the dice. Jiraiya blinked when he saw that the dice had suddenly changed from Han to Chou, which meant he won. The gambler got up and groaned. "What the hell was that?!"

"Oh damn," Naruto mock scowled while gazing at his hand, "Looks like I used too much power again."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at that. He knew Naruto had perfectly popped the ball over twenty times, so he shouldn't be making any mistakes now. Unless….

He smirked when he realized what had happened. Naruto had deliberately overloaded the ball causing it to explode rather than pop. He saw Naruto giving him a discrete wink. Turning to the gambler, he said with no small amount of smugness, "Looks like I win."

Grumbling, the gambler had no choice but to give them the information. As they were about to leave, Naruto nudged Jiraiya. "Hey, can I try that too?"

Jiraiya blinked, "You want to try gambling?"

Naruto nodded resolutely, "Yeah!"

Jiraiya smirked, "Then go ahead. We can wait for another hour. Let's see how much money you can make or lose."

Naruto grinned happily as he sat down before an empty dealer. "Deal me in!"

Jiraiya's smirk was soon lost when Naruto bet the double amount of what the gambler had demanded from him. He tried to warn him, "Naruto, that's too much!"

He received no reply as Naruto engaged the dealer in a game of high card. And he won.

Five times in a row.

Jiraiya and everyone else in the room were now gaping at Naruto, who was happily counting the 20,000 ryo he just made. With each victory, he increased the bet until the last one, the dealer was literally in tears from losing so much. Naruto put the money in his backpack and got up, bowing respectfully. "Thank you for the game."

Jiraiya was grinning like a fool as he slung his arm around Naruto, "Who knew you had your mother's luck in gambling, Naruto!"

Naruto blinked up at him, "Not my dad's?"

Jiraiya replied, "For all his smarts, your dad sucked at gambling."

"WAIT!"

The two shinobi halted, turning around to see the same gambler who had played with Jiraiya. He was holding up two dices while smirking. "How about a last game before you go?"

Naruto and Jiraiya looked at each other, then looked back, both of them smirking. Naruto challenged, "Haven't you lost enough for one day?"

The gambler kept on smirking, "I intend to win it all back, with interest."

Now both of them could have easily declined and walked away, but Naruto whispered to Jiraiya, "He seems quite confident that he could win. Could it be that he would use faulty dice?"

Jiraiya whispered back, "There's a solution to that as well." Out loud, he said, "Fine! One last game before we go!"

Naruto walked over to the gambler sitting down in front of him. He noticed that the others were also standing around them, watching closely. He mentally cursed- his chances of cheating just went down drastically, with all the attention that was upon them.

"So, shall we begin?"

"Wait!" Both Naruto and the gambler looked over to Jiraiya, who was holding up a pair of dice of his own. "Do you mind using this one instead of yours?"

The gambler scoffed, "If this is your attempt at cheating, then it's beyond pathetic, old man."

Jiraiya was not offended at all, "It's not that, actually. There's a chance that you might be cheating with your dice, but there's also a chance that we might be cheating as well." Naruto had to give credit to the guy; he gave no outward sign to the statement of lying. "So how about we use the dice of a neutral party, huh?"

The gambler asked, "Whose dice is that, old man?"

Jiraiya nodded to the other gambler, "His."

The other gambler's eyes widened as he whipped over to look at his table. His dice wasn't there! The old man must have picked it up, he realized. Looking back, he gulped and nodded at the other gambler.

The gambler lazily turned towards the two, but he was mentally cursing on losing his chance at using his other dice. His dice always assured him of his victory. If he denied now, he might get caught. He had no choice but to agree.

"Fine."

Naruto asked, "What's the bet?"

The gambler smirked, "If you lose, you return all the money that you won from us."

Naruto smirked back, "What happened to interest?"

It looked like his theory was right after all. He was prepared to cheat his way out.

The gambler smoothly returned, "I suppose I can waive that. After all, you guys have been most entertaining."

"And if you lose, you will give me double the amount."

The crowd around them broke into excited whispers at that. Jiraiya had to hand it to Naruto- the kid had balls of steel, that was for sure. The gambler gulped, "Don't you think that's taking it to a bit too far?"

Naruto shrugged and made a motion to get up, "You were the one who wants to play. That's my bet, take it or leave it." The gambler considered this heavily. On one hand, he could go the safe road and leave it, saving the gambling house a potential loss of 40,000 ryo. If this kid won, they would go bankrupt and, be the laughingstock of the town. If he won, they would be back in normal business.

Ultimately, lure of the risk of gambling won out.

He took the dice from Jiraiya and rolled it in his glass, slamming it on the ground. "Choose! Chou, or Han!"

Naruto did not even look at the glass, staring the gambler right in the eyes. "Han!"

The crowd leaned over each other, almost falling over in the process to see what the result was. Jiraiya and Naruto leaned over in anticipation as well…..

XXXXXXX

"How can you be grinning?"

Naruto grinned as he comfortably laid on the bed. "Because I won?"

Jiraiya snorted, "You singlehandedly put them out of business, brat. How can you even sleep after tonight?"

Naruto closed his eyes, "Like a baby, old man."

"You better not let Tsunade know of your insane luck. She won't let you leave her side when she goes gambling."

Naruto snorted in amusement, "I don't intend to."