Baa-chan - 2 [New Year Notice]

In a vain effort to relax Naruto and his mentor stopped by the local hot springs.

The blonde boy sat beside Jiraiya moodily in the hot water, very deep in thought, 'I've got to get stronger fast if I'm going to be Hokage. When I was fighting those two it's like they weren't even trying! How are Gaara-kun and I supposed to contend with guys as strong as that?'

He then recalled something that had really been irking him.

"Hey Ero-sensei…"

Jiraiya glanced over to him, adjusting the cloth on top of his head, "What is it, Naruto? Still hung up on that fight from earlier?"

Naruto nodded, "It's just…that Itachi-guy…he had shadow clones too and he could make his explode! He blew all of mine away like they were nothing."

"I'll bet…" Jiraiya scratched his chin, "All of his techniques are borderline kage-level. I hope you know he was already in the ANBU Black-Ops by the time he was your age."

"How did he do it? I've got to know! I mean…I could really use a trick like that!" The blonde boy didn't want to make a fuss over it, but he was extremely frustrated that he had encountered someone more adept with kage bunshin than himself.

The toad sage thought about it for a moment before answering, "Fundamentally it's easy enough to understand, but mastering a technique like that is something that would take even a jounin several years."

Naruto gave him an annoyed look and his teacher gave up and explained it anyway.

"Consider this, Naruto…you use an unusually large amount of chakra when you make shadow clones, let's say six or seven, sometimes even more…" Jiraiya began, folding his arms, "In this case the amount of chakra you gather is not distributed to the group of clones you intend to make, but to an individual clone. That is what gives it an unstable, bomb-like quality."

"All that chakra in one clone? Isn't that a waste of energy?" Naruto pointed out keenly, finding his chakra control lessons had done him a lot of good.

"Think of it as a singular clone on steroids," The toad sage suggested, "It's kind of a gamble when you're making a clone like that. Too much chakra will overload the little crapper and blow him up on the spot…too little and it's barely even worth calling a clone."

The blonde boy raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, that part I've known for a while!"

"The tricky part is molding the chakra correctly. This isn't quite the same as the Rasengan…" Jiraiya added, smiling at his pupil as he listened intently, "The extra amount of chakra made for it is molded into a tightly-packed, volatile kind of reservoir inside of the clones chakra coils, you follow me?"

"That's pretty complicated."

"It's worse, actually," His mentor's face became more serious, "The clone you make won't be able to use any techniques without triggering the bomb. Also, the excess chakra the clone has cushions against enemy blows so they'll probably last longer…but using up that extra chakra can just downgrade it to a regular clone. There's a lot you have to keep in mind."

Naruto took it into consideration, not yet discouraged, "I get it, Ero-sensei. But, um…how do you know all this exactly?"

Jiraiya made a pathetic face, "I'm old now. I've been around long enough so see all the weird shit and then some."

His pupil sighed, figuring that was a good enough answer.

The toad sage was honestly impressed with his student's greater level of maturity. He guessed that it must have come about after the exam when his friends and village were in peril…or perhaps he had just grown into it, 'There all growing up. Haku and the sand kid too…though Gaara is just wound too tight to exercise restraint at all sometimes.'

It was another thing he commended Naruto and Haku for: patience.

"Well, this skill is basically a matter of calculation, instinct and good judgment," Jiraiya concluded his lesson with his student, "All things you could improve on, actually."

Naruto took offense, "What? Are you saying I can't do this? Is that it you perv? I can totally do this, piece of cake!" His declaration continued even further, "You know what? I'll figure this whole thing out and then improve it, how's that?"

Jiraiya looked genuinely intrigued.

"Alright! I've had it with just sitting around doing nothing! Are we gonna find this lady or not?" Naruto stood up and left the water, through with slacking, "Come on Ero-sensei, let's get going!"

His teacher chuckled, following his pupil and wishing he still had the energy Naruto possessed.

*

Late that evening they had decided to take a break from their day-long search. Neither of the pair were in very high spirits, and Naruto was too tired to complain when Jiraiya led them into a tavern for some rest.

The place was dimly lit and smelled horribly of cigarettes.

Naruto scrunched up his nose, disliking the smoky atmosphere and followed Jiraiya wordlessly along the front. When his mentor halted abruptly Naruto bumped into his back clumsily, "Eh? Ero-sensei what are you doing?"

Jiraiya had paused and was staring across the room wearing a confused expression.

On the opposite side of the restaurant a blonde woman was shouting at a waiter to bring her more sake. At first the toad sage had thought his eyes may have been deceiving him in the poor lighting of the place, but when the woman noticed him her eyes widened in realization and he knew he had found who they were looking for.

"Well! Tsunade! It's been a while hasn't it?" He chortled, grinning, finding it typical to find her in such a place.

Naruto's eyes perked up, "Huh? The old lady's here?"

Jiraiya gave him a sidelong nod and Naruto decided it was time to be quiet and let his teacher do the talking.

They sat at the table Tsunade and her group were settled at, and Naruto wondered why Jiraiya was suddenly so light-hearted. It wasn't much of a discovery, but one thing he noted was that there in fact was a young woman with Tsunade, holding a pig in her lap and giving him an odd look.

"Hello Shizune, Ton-Ton," Jiraiya greeted, nodding to them, "I hope you've all been well."

Shizune gave him a weak smile, but it quickly disappeared when Tsunade spoke up, "What the hell are you doing here, Jiraiya?"

The black haired woman offered to share her plate of snacks with Naruto in order to distract him and he gladly accepted.

"Come on now, Tsunade. I thought you'd be happy to see me." Jiraiya smirked, well aware he was annoying her as much as he used to.

"Don't kid yourself like that, Jiraiya." The blonde woman began shuffling a deck of cards, not very interested in her old teammate's presence. Her eyes skimmed over Naruto and faint recognition flickered in them, "And who's this? A new apprentice? He looks funny…very different from your last student."

"Who looks funny, lady?" Naruto inquired, grumpily.

Tsunade gave him an amused look, "Jiraiya's previous pupil was a very bright boy. Polite, popular and quite handsome too…"

"Not unlike his teacher!" Jiraiya agreed, grinning goofily.

Naruto was annoyed but remained quiet, helping himself to the snack plate while he listened. Shizune gave him an apologetic look and he wondered if maybe Tsunade was even more temperamental that Gaara.

"Relax, Naruto," The toad sage could sense the boy's unease, "I've trained one Hokage, what's one more, eh?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed warningly, "Don't get the boy's hopes up."

She dealt the cards she had shuffled and Jiraiya looked over his hand, noting it was fairly good. His expression became solemn a moment later, "Alright, Tsunade, I'll get to the point… I'm here to offer you the title of Godaime Hokage on behalf of the Hidden Leaf Village," The hair on the back of Naruto's neck was on end upon hearing the words, "Well, do you accept?"

Shizune's eyes widened at the offer and she gave a pleading look to the woman beside her.

After a moment, Tsunade answered, "I refuse."

The blonde boy stared at the busty woman across the table from his teacher, unable to believe that she had declined.

"Offering one's life all for the sake of protecting one village? That's a fool's bet!" Tsunade spat bitterly, "Even I know better than to put my life on the line for something as fleeting as being a martyr, Jiraiya."

"How can you say that?" Naruto roared, jumping up from his seat angrily, "Someone like you doesn't even deserve to be considered for such an honor!"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at his pupil but made no attempt to interrupt him. Maybe Naruto would be able to convince Tsunade otherwise, he was hoping.

Tsunade also stood, slamming her cards down on the table, glaring at the indignant blonde boy, "Is that so, kid? You want to take this outside?"

"You bet I do!"

Jiraiya sighed, rubbing the side of his head in exasperation. Shizune also looked troubled as she watched the two blondes leave the tavern, causing an uproar, "I'm so sorry, Jiraiya-sama! Tsunade-sama's been a bit off recently…"

"I can tell." Jiraiya followed Shizune and the pig outside, wondering if they should intervene.

The street outside was by then dark and empty and it appeared a fight was imminent.

"See this, boy?" Tsunade fingered the necklace adorning her bosom, "If you can defeat me I'll concede and let you have this necklace of mine."

"You can keep the stupid necklace after I beat you!" Naruto snapped hastily and he turned to see Jiraiya had come to stand beside him.

"You know, squirt, that necklace is extremely valuable! It belonged to Tsunade's grandfather, the very first Hokage," The toad sage gave him a brief history lesson, "Just thought you'd like to know!"

He backed off after that and Naruto changed his mind at the mentioning of the Shodaime Hokage, "On second thought, Baa-chan, that necklace would look way better on me than it does on you!"

Not amused, Tsunade rushed at him, flicking him with her index finger and sending him crashing down to the ground with incredible force. She was surprised to find she had only destroyed a shadow clone, 'Well, well! It looks like the kid is smarter than he looks. All that time I was only talking to a shadow clone! He must've have substituted himself with it before leaving the pub.'

A/N:

SO GUYS, THE NEW YEAR'S ARRIVING!!!

AND I AM PLANNING A SPECIAL GIFT FOR YOU ALL!

A 10 CHAPTER MASS RELEASE!!!

YAY....

Well, maybe I am the only one excited.

Regardless, I am gonna do it for myself. So take it as a pill and savor the taste, comrades. !!UMU!!