Dysfunctional - 5

"Thanks for treating us to lunch, Naruto-kun!" Sato was beaming as he sat next to Shino and Hinata at Ichiraku Ramen, waiting on their meal.

Naruto gave him a look of contempt, "I'm only treating Hinata-chan, not you!"

Sato gave him a heartbroken look before shrugging, and then turned to Shino, prompting him with a knock-knock joke. Shino gave no response.

"I'm glad you stayed to train with us this morning, Naruto-kun," Hinata's smile was shy but cheerful, "But d-don't you think you should be going soon to find Gaara-kun and Haku-kun?"

A thoughtful look came over his face before he answered her, "Well, I want to eat lunch first, then I'll go find them. I'm getting kind of tired of finding people today..."

She giggled softly and Ayame came by with their food, not overlooking the Hyuga girl next to the number one customer of Ichiraku Ramen. Truthfully Naruto had a great time training with Hinata's team. He was so used to Haku's by-the-book suggestions and Gaara just standing still deflecting blows that fighting against new people (although he found Sato and Shino insufferably annoying) was very refreshing.

Hinata herself had even trained with him but refused to use Jyukken. She merely tapped him gently when he had been hit, and he would chuckle at her humbleness when she was obviously 'kicking his butt.' Oddly enough, he had found himself to be less rough around her as well. Naruto was used to slugging Gaara and Haku painfully in the face on a regular basis, but with Hinata it was different.

He was more careful and attentive when fighting her, not hitting her nearly as hard as he would one of his teammates. Then again, he assumed it was only natural. She was a girl, smaller and less sturdy than many of the male shinobi he had gotten into fights with, and if he was foolish enough to injure her, his head would be presented to Hiashi on a golden platter.

'Now I see why the lazy idiot likes to train with her so much,' Naruto thought to himself as he slurped down a mouthful of pork ramen, 'Hinata-chan is way strong but she didn't beat the shit out me. I kinda wish...well...I kinda wish that if it couldn't be Haku-kun or Gaara-kun, that maybe she'd be on my team.'

Naruto snuck a fond glance at Hinata as he continued his slurping. She was staring down at her bowl with a nostalgic look, slowly nibbling at noodles held with a pristine delicateness by her chopsticks. 'She's treated like a princess by her clan but...she looks so sad all the time. I wish I knew what I could do about it...'

"Naruto!"

The four genin turned to see Jiraiya approaching, wearing one of his more serious expressions.

Naruto didn't look very pleased to see him, but finished his slurping and gave his attention to his perverted teacher anyway.

"Back already, Ero-sensei?" Naruto asked as the sennin stopped in front of him.

"I had to pull some strings to do it," He replied tiredly, exhausted from his many of hours of backbreaking community service, "I figured I'd find you here, Naruto. Er, where are your teammates?"

Jiraiya gave a puzzled look to Sato when there was a camera flash. The silver haired boy grinned at him innocently and said nothing.

"Gaara-kun and Haku-kun are...they're somewhere training I guess." Naruto admitted, he himself wondering what sort of place could occupy them for so long.

The sennin nodded, "Good! There's something I actually needed to talk to you about anyway. We can find those other two knuckleheads later."

"...we need to talk now, Ero-sennin?"

"Yes, now. And stop calling me that," Jiraiya hissed, not wanting to be insulted in front of genin that were not his students, "Finish up now."

Naruto gave him a frustrated look, "Alright, fine, but I don't see what the rush is..." He turned to Team 8, "We definitely have to train together again sometime, and I'll bring Haku-kun and Gaara-kun with me," Naruto hopped off of his stool and left tab money for himself and Hinata while he gave a foxy grin to the Hyuga heiress, "I'll see you later, Hinata-chan!"

"Goodbye, Naruto-kun..." Her squeak of a response was just barely within his hearing as he turned to follow his instructor, wondering what all the fuss was about.

*

"What are we doing here, Ero-sensei?" Naruto wasn't very pleased to be lead back to the training area he had spent his entire morning at with Team 8, "Look I just ate sensei, and I'm not really ready for any sparring or stuff like that-"

"I know," Jiraiya's voice was gruff, "That isn't exactly what I brought you here for kid."

"Oh?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at his teacher, "Then what are we doing here?"

"Naruto, by now you are aware of the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra within you, are you not?"

"Well...yeah, I know about it. So do Gaara-kun and Haku-kun."

The sage nodded with a smile, "Of course they would. But Naruto, now I need you to swear that you will not breathe a word of what I am about to tell you to either Haku or Gaara, understood?"

"Why?"

"Just swear it already so I can get on with this!"

Naruto scowled, "What is so important that I can't tell Haku-kun or Gaara-kun? I won't hide anything from them!"

"This technique I'm trying to pass onto you is meant for you and only you," Jiraiya sighed, "I can't have them jumping on the band-wagon-of-techniques, if you know what I mean!"

"...a new...technique?"

"You heard me! Now swear!"

"I swear."

The sennin nodded, "Good, now we can begin... As I was saying before, for someone in your position, that is, a vessel of a powerful biju," Naruto snorted at him in acknowledgment, "Your chakra control is not nearly as bad as it could be...since I happened across you all those years ago."

"You shouldn't take all the credit for that old man! Haku-kun, Gaara-kun and me, we've been training since long after you left." Naruto almost wore a hurt expression, but it seemed more annoyed rather than upset. "Now tell me what the heck you brought me here for!"

Jiraiya shrugged, not hiding his smirk, "Well, fine. If you're so eager perhaps it would be much easier if I just showed you."

Naruto gave him a quizzical look as the sennin marched up to one of Haku's target poles, still lined with senbon that he hadn't extracted from it. He couldn't help but stare in wonder as his mentor raised his hand, revealing a swirling blue light.

'What is that? Chakra? Yeah...but how is he...?'

The blue, spiraling sphere that had materialized in Jiraiya's hand swirled within its self-contained shell, and the legendary ninja smirked to himself before calling back to his student, "Now pay attention, Naruto!"

The blonde nodded absently as he watched, trying to understand what he was witnessing.

"Rasengan!" The sage thrust the sphere of chakra forward, into the pole and shattered it into countless splinters of pathetic wood. Chips of cedar rained down on the field and Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end with anticipation.

'I am so gonna figure out how to do that!'

"Well, what do you think, Naruto? You want Haku and Gaara to learn that as well?" Jiraiya turned around, brushing dust from his hands victoriously.

"...not really."

"I thought so."

"What did you do? You've got to teach me how to do that sensei!" Naruto was grinning, with his fists clenched in excitement.

"That was the Rasengan: a spiraling sphere of chakra," Jiraiya stated proudly, "By now, with your ability to walk on water and climb trees with only your chakra, I feel you are ready to begin learning this technique."

Naruto took a moment to examine the toad hermit's new faith in him, 'The last time I walked on water was at that beach when Haku-kun freaked out...and tree climbing? Psh! This'll be a piece of cake!'

The blonde didn't fail to wonder why his mentor would suddenly entrust him with such a powerful attack. He decided to think on it later.

"So what exactly is the Rasengan?"

"Hm, that's a good question." Jiraiya scratched his chin thoughtfully, "To sum it up, it is a concentration of chakra which the user spins in many directions, making it self-contained and might I say..." He glanced over to Haku's demolished target, "Very destructive."

"You're gonna get Haku-kun a replacement target right?"

"Eh? No! He can use trees! His aim isn't half bad anyway..." Jiraiya muttered, "But I digress...the entire function of this technique does not rely on hand seals of any sort. The key is chakra control. Without control, there is no way a shinobi can master this technique."

"Is that why you had me, Gaara-kun and Haku-kun running up trees when we were little?"

"Nah. It was just funny to watch..." Naruto gave him an irked look, "Sheesh, Naruto! I was joking! To answer your question; no. I had you three working early because, well let's face it: the Kyuubi and the Ichibi aren't what I'd call a picnic chakra-wise. You and Gaara were major concerns in general as to whether or not you had control over yourselves period. Haku…he sort of always has been perfect when it comes to molding chakra, so he doesn't count."

"So you just taught us that stuff so we'd have better chakra control later...I mean now." Naruto frowned, "I thought you actually had plans for us! Like you'd look after us or something..."

"Naruto, I'm one of the Legendary Sannin and a very successful novelist. I didn't exactly have time for raising kids," Jiraiya sighed, "I was old then so try imagining what I feel like now!"

Naruto wondered why he felt so dejected, "...whatever."

"Look, I'm sorry you three suffered, okay? If it were up to me, I'd string up all the assholes around here by their ankles and let you whack them like piñatas...but unfortunately that isn't the way the world works," Jiraiya then smirked, "And besides, I did have my reasons for teaching you."

"I know I'm secretly your favorite student!" Naruto grinned, humor returning to him, "Admit it!"

"Er...yeah. Now shut up so we can move on!" He didn't seem very sincere.

"Right! So it's a spiraling sphere...but...how can you spin chakra like that?" Naruto reverted back to their original subject, much to the toad hermit's relief.

"With practice," Jiraiya riffled around in his pocket for something other than his research materials and obtained a small bag of deflated, rubber balloons, "You'll focus your chakra into the palm of your hand and spin it." He procured one balloon and tossed the bag aside without a second thought.

After filling the orange balloon using a water-gathering jutsu, Jiraiya tied a knot and handed it to his baffled pupil, "This will act as an instrument of measure on your progress. The faster your chakra spins, the flatter the balloon gets. Try it out."

"Spin my chakra... How long do you think this will this take sensei?"

"As long as it needs to," The sennin answered absently, taking a seat on a nearby stump and retrieving his novel-notes, "Don't expect to get it on your first try, kid. The only way you actually learn something is through practice and hard work. Remember: there's no shortcut to power!"

Naruto nodded, taking the words to heart. He stared at the water balloon in his hand for a long moment as an idea crossed his mind.

Jiraiya looked up as Naruto created 20 Shadow Clones of himself, each of which fetched their own balloon, and scrambled over to a Haku-made pond on the side of the field to fill them with water.

"Uh, Naruto? What are you doing?"

One of the blondes crowded around the small water source turned to Jiraiya (presumably the original) to answer, "If I have more balloons to try this out on, then it'll get done faster, right sensei?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Maybe...maybe not. The point of this is to actually get it right, so I don't see any use in rushing it."

"I want to master this technique soon! Then I'll have one up on Haku-kun and Gaara-kun!"

"Hey! Doesn't your toad summoning count?" The sage was again miffed, "I'm quite certain those two goofs are incapable of summoning."

"They can't," Naruto confirmed, as his clones lined up, focusing their chakra into each, individual balloon, "But I can't help but get competitive with them, sensei, even if they are my brothers."

The sennin paused in his scribbling of notes to look up at Naruto, "...your brothers?"

"Yeah, that's right!" The blonde grinned at the notion, "That's what I've decided we are. I mean we're much closer than friends, and we are already sort of a family so…that's what we are."

Jiraiya shrugged, smiling, 'What a unique family he must have...'

The following twenty-five minutes saw each of Naruto's clones, as well as himself, desperately try to flatten their water balloons by spinning their chakra. The fifth clone from the left nearly had it, as well as the real Naruto, who were beginning to feel that success was near. However, there was an abrupt pop, followed by a splash and a clone on the far right looked up bewildered for a moment before crying victoriously, "Yeah!"

All 18 other replications and the original turned to said clone, each inquiring how the feat was accomplished.

Within five minutes each balloon was popped.