Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Explosive Youth! ❯ Team 6: Search for Gero Sennin! pt 1 ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: dialNforNinja 
Re-upload with numerous minor fixes. Not neccessary to reread if you went through the original version.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 592 | Status: Work In Progress
Re-upload with numerous minor fixes. Not neccessary to reread if you went through the original version.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.28.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.7K | Visits: 592 | Status: Work In Progress
txy02a.txt
20060720 - finished Jiraya meeting, started training stuff
20061215 - training sequence begun, just endgame remains
20071214 - training continues, watched movie for armor details
20071217 - finished training, but three more scenes appeared
20071225 - lots of notes and fragments for last scenes
20071226 - one big fight down, just Bunta and the finale to go
20080430 - various edits, and started working on kyuubi/Bunta
20080502 - like REO Speedwagon sang, "got to keep a-pushin' on."
20080506 - FINALLY! Draft complete!
20080507 - the Rapid Reader Response System pointed out several things in need of a fix.
It had been a month now since they'd graduated, and Naruto almost wondered if it had been worth the trouble - well, not really, but the three genin had trained together nearly as much when they were still academy students, and at least then when Gai-sensei had a mission and couldn't join them they didn't have to join *him* painting houses or mowing lawns or catching poor Tora, the Fire daimyo's wife's cat *again* to be returned to the Hell of Smothering Tight Hugs.
Well, he thought there was probably a hell like that, anyway. He'd been chased away by some older kids the one time he'd ever tried to go to one of the temples during a festival, but he knew there were lots of weird hells, like the Hell of Whirling Blades and the Hell of Inverted Sinners and the Hell of Howling Winds - various adults had told him to go to most of them at one time or another, and he'd had too much experience with smothering hugs since he'd met his super-fuzzy-face sensei. At least those weren't caused by malice, just excess of excitement.
These thoughts had carried him through the somewhat dull routine of setting up some lightweight posts for the morning's training with Lee and Rikou while they waited for Gai to get their assignment for the afternoon. They'd gotten the process refined to a smooth system by now - Naruto would pick out a straight, arm-thick branch about the right length, Rikou would trim off all the twigs and leaves with a pair of blades attached to the ends of her silk rope, then Lee would break it off of the parent tree with a solid kick and Naruto would carry it back to the clearing, where Rikou would blast a narrow hole in the ground with 'Misukurinuku,' a basic water-type jutsu and, finally, Lee would slam it down into place before they went to get another.
Once they'd gotten a dozen or so of them set in a loose circle, all three would get a turn at jumping from one to the next all the way around before having a three-way spar where anyone who got knocked off the posts had to wait for a count of twenty before jumping back in. That much had been in the instructions Gai had given when they started doing the exercise each day, but they'd quickly added Self Rules as well - today, for example, Lee declared, "For this match, I shall stand only on my right leg, and if I'm knocked down I'll do left-leg squat-thrusts until the time limit passes!"
"Okay!" the blond enthused, his usual cheerful nature reasserting itself. "Well today I'll use only kicks, and if anyone can knock me down I'll do handstand push-ups until I get to come back!"
Rikou tightened the knots where she'd replaced the daggers on her cord with similarly shaped, blunt weights for training. "YEAH!" she shouted, charged up with their collective enthusiasm. "I'm going to hold the Kirigakure no jutsu for the whole fight, and if I fall it's BACKFLIPS!"
The two boys gasped, knowing how much she hated doing flips. They tended to loosen the bun she wore her hair in, even with four large pins to hold it. "Such dedication," Lee murmured, his eyes sparkling with re-doubled youthful spirit, while Naruto treated her to his best Nice Guy pose.
Oddly, Rikou always seemed to get a bit flushed when he did that, and sometimes her breath would catch, but when he'd asked her if he was doing it wrong she'd said no, it was just perfect and to please do it more. So he did, chalking it up to girl-wierdness. She shifted her hips and gave him a sultry grin before hopping up to the nearest pole and forming the hand seals to use Kirigakure no Jutsu, the basis of her mother's hybrid ninjutsu/genjutsu technique, 'Gorimuchuu.'
Rikou had much better chakra control than Naruto, but her biggest challenge as a ninja was maintaining that control when she was struck, so maintaining 'Kirigakure' at a constant level where it would feel and taste as damp as the genjutsu element of 'Gorimuchuu' would make enemies experience while still keeping it it thin enough that she and her team mates could see and distinguish each other by their bright outfits was a perfect Self Rule to practice. Doing that while also using chakra to stick her feet to the post with the tree-climbing technique Gai-sensei had taught them just added to the challenge!
With twin cries of excitement the boys joined her at the tops of the poles, and the battle began in earnest as the first edge of the sun peered over the horizon to light up the mist. It was really quite beautiful, the brightly-dressed girl thought as her weighted cord twirled and lashed out like a demented serpent, only barely avoided as Lee hopped and flipped over Naruto to another pole.
Legend of Explosive Youth Part Two
Team Six: Urgent Mission! Search for Gero-Sennin!
As usual, Maito Gai was the first person through the door after the ANBU assignments had been distributed, and Sarutobi had already set aside a pair of scrolls in anticipation. One was a normal mission scroll, the other held closed by his personal seal. Sandaime smiled tolerantly as the jounin landed in his customary Nice Guy pose, greeting, "Good morning. A quadruple flip today? You must be getting used to the new weights."
"YOSH!" Konoha's most excitable ninja cheered, eyes aflame with youthful passion. "I shall have to create a new pair, with the gravity seal set for six hundred and FIFTY pounds! No, six hundred and SEVENTY!" he shouted, pumping a fist. "I will do it this very afternoon, as soon as my excellent students have completed today's mission with youth and spirit!"
The Hokage hummed, and drew on his pipe. He savored the rich northern-coast blend for a moment, then puffed a double smoke ring and spoke. "Your team has shaped up well, then. That's good, Gai-kun. Do you think they are ready for a mission outside the village?" The mission reports on Team Six's progress had been uniformly positive, even when translated from Gai-ese, but he always preferred to leave such decisions to the sensei involved when he could. It was partly a mark of trust in his subordinates' judgment and partly the fact that even though he tried to get to know all of the ninja under his care, they were the ones working together day in and day out.
"Oooooooh!" The ebon-haired sensei crowed, manly tears of pride cascading down his cheeks. "HOKAGE-SAMA! I am so moved by your faith in the SHINING ENERGY of Team Explosive Youth! My precious students will accomplish any assignment with the POWER of their BRILLIANT SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!!"
Again, not an answer that came as a surprise. Sarutobi adjusted his squared-off hat and slid the scrolls across the desk, the C-Rank wrapper of the mission scroll plainly obvious. "As you can see, the mission has been rated higher than D-Rank, but mainly because it is likely to take two to three weeks rather than due to any exceptional danger. I immediately thought of your team because speed is of high importance. You should hold off on the new weights until afterward, and have your students leave theirs behind until the message scroll is delivered. I'll add an extra mission allowance for them to purchase new equipment at the destination."
Gai brushed his eyes dry, and bowed over the scrolls clutched tight to his chest. "You're so GENEROUS, Hokage-sama!" he cried, before vanishing in a puff of chakra smoke.
Sarutobi grinned again at the man's antics, then signaled for the next waiting shinobi to be sent in.
---=- + -=---
When Gai poofed into existence at the training ground, he found his charges still hard at work in the sun-touched mist, Lee hopping and flipping from one post to the next as he avoided Rikou's furious assault, attacking across the full width of the circle with her long, weighted cord.
Naruto was on the ground, doing two handstand push-ups for each second as he counted them off, "18, 19, 20, dattebayo!" He flipped down to his feet and then formed the seal for a bunshin as he leapt again, one heading for Lee on the right, one for Rikou on the left, and one straight across to the far side of the circle. One of the kunoichi's weights sailed through that last, the puff of smoke invisible in the mist as it was disrupted, while the one heading for the Proud Green Beast dissolved on its own after he dodged out of the way. Rikou's second cord was already wrapping around her real team mate, but too late - the blond's snap kick knocked her off her perch and set himself spinning to unwind the flat silk binding. Coming to a halt on a post next to the one she'd been occupying, he bounced exuberantly and crowed, "YEAH! Got'cha back!"
"You should WATCH your back," the bowl-cut boy reminded helpfully, even as he landed a kick to the side of Naruto's post and sent him flailing, to fall right in Rikou's arms as she was climbing to her feet. He bounced back from the springy, greenwood post, reaching overhead to grab the one he had rebounded towards and vault to the top.
After making sure Naruto's face had been in place long enough for him to realize where she was holding it, Rikou let the struggling genin disentangle himself and get into another handstand, obviously trying to pretend the blood had rushed to his cheeks from being upside down. *He's so cute when he's like that,* she thought to herself, forming a short burst of hand seals before beginning her own series of backflips. Feeling the faint tingle across her scalp, the Maito heiress called out excitedly, "YOSH! Kunoichi Ninpo: Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu ... SUCCESS!!" No matter how boldly she expressed the explosive energy of her glorious springtime of youth, she'd never have to worry about looking bad while doing it! The sheer joy of it was enough to buoy her up and do a double backflip on the count of twelve.
Not to be left out, Lee jumped down on his own, and began another series of squat-thrusts.
Wiping new tears of pride from his eyes, Gai waited for the genin to complete their forfeits before teleporting again, appearing in a puff of smoke atop one of the poles. "AN EXCELLENT BATTLE, MY STUDENTS!" he bellowed, "Your youthful spirit has brought tears to my eyes! Alas, I must sadly announce that our usual morning practice is impossible for the next while, but DO NOT DESPAIR!" He leapt down form the pole, landing in another action-hero pose before continuing, "The burning passion of your springtime of youth shall NOT be ignored! We will be forgoing it only because our wise and generous Hokage has assigned a long-term mission to Team Explosive Youth!"
One glance at the mission scroll his sensei was brandishing was enough to have the hyperactive blond hopping around and shouting his excitement to the world. "YEAH! YEAH! C-RANK MISSION! And next, B-Rank, and A-Rank, and S-Rank, and then I'll be Hokage and surpass all previous Hokages IN MY FLOWERING SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! DATTEBAYO!" He bounced off an overhanging bough and homed in on the powerposing jounin, taking uncommon initiative in wrapping the man in a tacklehug. "OH GAI-SENSEI! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING US A COOLER MISSION!"
Their own excited cries echoing across the training field, Lee and Rikou latched on from the sides, all four taking several minutes to recover themselves.
---=- + -=---
Gai was in what might be called 'serious mode' as the team collected again at the village gates, each carrying a backpack. The lack of training weights on her calves left Rikou with a tan line, and even the boys' jumpsuits were a bit darker on the lower legs, since they wore the weights continually except to wash and for two hours of their training each day to practice moving without them and the massive difference they caused in their center of balance. He gave each only a brief arm-clasp as they arrived, then checked over their equipment. Finding everything in order - if a bit heavy on the instant ramen for Naruto, but if the boy wanted to challenge himself with just a LITTLE extra weight, who was Gai to dissuade him? He did make Lee dump about half of the rocks in his pack, though - the bowl-cut jounin took his customary explanation pose to go over the assignment details.
"The mission that Hokage-sama has entrusted to Team Explosive Youth will require your top speed," he reminded them, explaining, "We will be searching for a certain man to deliver a top secret scroll! He was last seen near the seaside town of Kirika, on the Taimatsu Peninsula, and since many people celebrate the Planting Festival there this time of year, he should still be nearby." The usual enthusiastic expression on his super-fuzzy face turned stern for a moment as Gai instructed, "This mission, it has a strict time limit. Even if we meet bandits or enemy ninja, the first priority is to go forward, without spending time on a fight."
Lee nodded seriously, taking notes in his little book, but Naruto kicked at the ground in disgust and scoffed, swinging his pack by one strap in irritation. Rikou, snuggled up to the blond boy's back, shot a frown at her father over his shoulder, then heaved a sigh after it. "Moooooou, SENSEI..." he complained, trying to ignore the warm, soft girl against his back (and especially those and his imagination has to be running away with him because his jacket's too thick to feel *that* and it's just Rikou being huggy again and he's talking to Gai-sensei about the mission, dammit!) "How can we prove our strength as ninja if we run away from the fight? That's too uncool!"
Suddenly, Gai had replaced Rikou, and was delivering a power-noogie instead of a snuggle. "FOOL!" he scolded. "Knowing when the mission outweighs a battle is the MOST IMPORTANT strength of a ninja! To remember, you must do five hundred one-arm pushups with each arm as soon as we arrive!" Just as suddenly released, the blond staggered against his kunoichi team mate, who'd appeared off-balance in front of him when the jounin had used 'Kawarimi' to switch places with her. Unable to maintain his anger, the older man swept both of them into a crushing hug, proclaiming, "EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRONG, I STILL FORGIVE YOU MY STUDENT, FOR THE EAGER SPIRIT OF YOUTH IS WHAT DRIVES YOU! OOOOOOOH!"
"OH, GAI SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed, piling on from the other side. "YOU'RE SO MAGNANIMOUS!"
Naruto and Rikou may have made positive noises, or may have been merely praying to the Kami of the Breathing Miracle. They were turned loose before going completely blue, however, and after a few gasps the foxy blond shouldered his backpack and asked, "Hey, hey, sensei, who are we looking for, anyway? You didn't tell us what he looks like or anything!"
"The man we are searching for has not been in Konoha for many years," Gai explained seriously, "but he has been seen wearing a dark green shirt and pants, with a red vest and sandals, carries a large scroll on a shoulder strap, and has long, spiky white hair. He is... Jiraya, frog summoner of the Leaf's Legendary Three!" Pointing dramatically out through the open gate, he commanded, "TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! HASSHIN!!" There were four muted booms like distant thunder as the team pushed off, literally leaping to full speed and raising a cloud of dust. The gate guard on duty muttered a curse on over-enthusiastic bowl-heads as it subsided, then used a doton jutsu to smooth out the deep footprint craters left behind in the path.
---=- + -=---
They'd had to stop for rest at night and (briefly) every so often during the daylight hours, of course, because even as well conditioned as they were, the kids were still rookie genin. Even so, they were closing in on a destination most ninja would call a week away after only four days, and it was barely mid-afternoon. Gai had gone to scout ahead while his subordinates refilled their canteens at a small stream and munched granola bars. They hadn't spoken much during the trip, and what little conversation they'd made was conducted in hushed whispers, words distorted by avoiding the sibilants that would carry more easily to alert possible enemies to their presence.
That fact might have surprised someone who only knew the boisterous personalities Gai and his charges usually presented, but he hadn't achieved the Elite Jounin rank without understanding the concept of field discipline and - since part of their objective was to avoid confrontations anyway - he'd made a stealth drill part of the exercise. Naruto was now up to one thousand one-armed push ups on each arm, 1500 sit ups, and six hundred squat-thrusts due on arrival as penalty for forgetting to keep his voice down, Rikou only slightly less, and Lee almost half again as many more. Still, even he'd finally gotten the hang of it, and as his idol appeared the bowl-cut wearing genin contented himself with springing to his feet with open arms and shining eyes.
Momentarily overcome with pride at their progress, Gai shared a quick hug with his younger doppelganger, then stepped back to give them all a thumbs-up, super-bushy moustache twitching as he fought to keep from showing a smile that could give away their position with the telltale glint of reflected sunlight. Manly tears escaped the corners of his eyes as the genin followed suit, and sniffles normally hidden by exclamations of excitement echoed softly in the small clearing.
Bringing his youthful passion once more under control, Gai signaled for a huddle, murmuring seriously once the circle was complete, "A party of smugglers have infested the clearing ahead; they appear to be two groups trading contraband. We would avoid them like all others up to now, but..." The jounin's features twisted into a surprisingly fierce scowl. "They are trading opium, to poison the spirited youth of Fire Country." He drew a kunai and scratched a quick sketch into the dirt, an irregular circle with two squares inside. Pointing to the larger square, he explained, "We'll make a single attack as we pass through. This is where the opium crates are stacked, the other area is kegs of fire-apple whiskey. I'll go first and knock the crates in the air, Lee, you follow and smash as many open as you can while bouncing between them. Rikou will be next, and perform 'Misukurinuku' to dissolve the opium in the broken crates - this stream joins another on the low side of the clearing, here, for you to draw on. Naruto, you take the rear. Throw 'Kaen' to set the kegs alight. There are many thugs in the area, but none appear to be ninja, so there should be no pursuit, but if one of them is surprising remember that the priority is to escape and continue the mission." Looking around the circle Gai saw Lee nodding seriously, while Naruto bounced in excitement at finally getting to use some ninjutsu on this mission and Rikou watched him with a smile for how happy he seemed.
--=--
The plan had gone off without a hitch, leaving the smugglers milling about in confusion and cursing ninja brats who show up out of nowhere to ruin a deal worth thousands of ryo - apparently Gai had blazed through too quickly to be seen for more than a streak, even though he'd had to kick over a dozen large crates into the air as he'd passed. Lee had hardly been any slower, ricocheting from one to the next and flinging them back down with shattering force, but Rikou had to pause, balancing in mid-air on the jet of water as she played it across the wreckage before continuing on, and Naruto had actually landed and stood on one of the less intelligent thugs' head for his part. The prehistoric-looking enforcer had just started reaching up to feel around on his noggin and even the fastest of his fellows were still drawing their weapons as the Blazing Orange Wildfire bounced away again, laughing madly at how pathetic the whole encounter was - he'd had tougher opposition playing pranks on that mean old guy with the vegetable stall in Konoha Market than from both gangs put together.
---=- + -=---
Team Explosive Youth split up once they reached Kirika, searching block by block after an initial sweep at the main shrine, hoping to find their target before another night passed (or they'd all do 500 wind sprints.) Now the glorious sunset tapestry of orange and gold had faded to a thin glow on the horizon, and still they'd had no luck. Naruto's stomach rumbled louder than his footsteps as he jumped up and clung to a lamp post to survey the lightly traveled side street, delicious smells of miso and noodles wafting out of a nearby restaurant.
"The passionate flames of a youthful spirit need a good fuel supply," he reasoned, "I'll just look for him inside while I get some food, dattebayo!" Ignoring the handful of passerby who'd stopped to point and marvel at a boy standing sideways on a lamp post, he hopped down and skipped toward the entrance, eyes screwed up with a wide foxy grin, only to run into some one coming out. The blond stumbled backwards a couple of steps before regaining his balance, and opened his mouth to curse out the old fool who'd...
"Ano sa, ano sa, what did Gai-sensei say the guy we're looking for was like again?" he asked himself, frowning in concentration. He snapped his fingers and looked closely at the bemused older man, counting the points off as he catalogued them. "Bushy white hair, yep, green top and pants, yep, red vest and sandals, big scroll, yep yep..." The orange-clad genin crossed his arms and nodded decisively. "...but a legendary ninja wouldn't have such a stupid look; must be the wrong guy. Sorry Oji-san!"
The stranger's jaw dropped, eyes blank with shocked dismay.
"Ne, if you see a ninja who looks like you, tell him there's an important message from the Hidden Leaf, okay?" Naruto continued, obliviously.
"Why you little..." The traveler recovered himself, then delivered a smack that left the boy rubbing his shoulder agreivedly. Assured that he was paying attention, the white-maned man pointedly adjusted his horned hitae-ate, then took up a dramatic pose (Gallant Jiraya Appears) and announced, "I am... Legendary Frog of the Three Ninja... the handsome wanderer who's irresistible to women... Jiraya-sama!" (Ore wa... Densetsu no Gero San-nin, etc.)
"Ero-sennin?" Naruto mumbled, unimpressed. Jiraya's eyebrow twitched, but before he could protest his mangled title the blonde burst into motion, jumping excitedly as he hollered, "Okay, okay! Now *I'LL* introduce myself!" Coming down into a crouch, he hurtled up into the air, at least twenty five feet by the older man's experienced eye. Forming a tiger seal, the boy blasted off a pair of 'Kaen,' one upward to signal his team mates, the other down to light a short-lived bonfire in the street to pose in front of as he landed. "Like an erupting volcano, the Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived, dattebayo!" the blond shouted, one arm extended in a thumbs-up and the fire light glinting off of a brilliant smile.
He missed the quickly-suppressed look of shock that crossed his target's face. *Uzumaki Naruto... This is that boy?* the wandering ninja thought, deciding, *This should be interesting.*
---=- + -=---
A brilliant streamer of flame lit up the dusk, drawing the attention of the ninja currently searching Kirika. Well, Gai happened to be indoors at the time, so he missed it - he knew his target, and was checking the geisha parlors himself to protect his students' precious, youthful innocence. Lee and Rikou arrived in time to see Naruto rubbing his head as he admitted to not actually knowing what the important message is, because their sensei had the scroll.
Rikou nodded affirmatively and noted, "He said that Sandaime-sama chose our team specifically, because it had a strict time limit to get to you."
"Un, un," Lee agreed. "With youthful spirit to lend us wings, not even a messenger hawk could have defeated us!"
Jiraya gave the green-suited boy a skeptical look, then blinked, put together the genins' speed, speech patterns, and outfits, then drawled, "Your sensei... It's Maito Gai, isn't it?"
Both boys gasped at this incredible feat of deduction, while Rikou flashed a grin and victory-sign, but the sennin was no longer paying attention. The street had emptied again with the displays of ninja skill apparently finished, and the three genin paled as a spike of ice suddenly burst from the ground, drilling up through the man they'd been sent to find in a gory spray of blood and mangled flesh.
"E-ero sennin?" Naruto stuttered, frozen in shock and unable even to look around as cruel laughter echoed around the small street, all the more terrible as it cut through the faint sounds of celebration from the festival still ongoing nearby.
"So, it seems one of you was an adult after all." The voice was a woman's, with a clipped regional accent and cold with contempt.
Appearing from the white wall of a building opposite the restaurant that had originally attracted the blond genin's attention, a man contradicted her, his tone just as icy. "No, just a kid who got old. An adult should know better than to meddle with things that aren't their concern." He was dressed in a sleeveless, light grey jumpsuit with blue piping at the seams, loose as if it was intended to be worn over a bulky inner layer, with a hitae-ate bearing an unfamiliar insignia - four small dots in an irregular pattern - marred by the deep slash of a nuke-nin. The unknown nin's skin was pale, while his hair and eyes were dark, and his right arm snapped up to fire a cord from the grapple launcher strapped to it to tie up Lee, who'd begun to shake off his shock.
At almost the same instant, a second grapple line came from the kunoichi behind them, joining with the first to restrain the bowl-cut genin, who vibrated in place like a spring as he tried to lunge free at the last moment only to be jerked back. She drew a handful of kunai, bringing her left arm back and aiming for three simultaneous, lethal strikes.
Before the hits could land, Rikou broke out of her immobility, two kunai of her own slicing Lee free to dodge, while a leaping tackle took her and Naruto out of the line of fire. Quickly disentangling herself for once, the young kunoichi rolled back to her feet, shouting, "We're not so easy!" as she quickly slipped the coil of silk cord from her shoulder and attached another pair of kunai. Naruto was right beside her, but still in a fugue state thinking of how quickly their mission had gone bad. Somewhat dazedly, he brought his hands up, but the signs to activate 'Hiyoroi' just wouldn't form.
Delayed momentarily to struggle free of the restraining cords, Lee too hopped to his feet, taking up the initial stance of the Gouken taijutsu style. He and Rikou formed up in front of the still-shocked blond, their opponents squaring off arrogantly a few steps away after rewinding the cut ends of their grapple lines.
"You brats obviously have no idea who you're dealing with," the man gloated, smirking. "Since it would be tragic for your young lives to end and not even be able to tell Shinigami who killed you, we'll introduce ourselves. I'm Atsuikaze Gomaru." The snow-nin drew a fuuma shuriken as he spoke, and set it to spinning around the fingers of his off hand, whirls of dust kicking up around him as the nuke-nin fed chakra into his weapon and thence to the air.
Drawing the twin katana poking over her shoulders, the woman continued, "And I'm Atsuikaze Gin, called the Burning Edge of Hidden Snow." One ready to guard, the other poised to attack, a line of thin orange flames traced down each blade. "Before we left Snow Country, we were full jounin! Some brats making trouble out of school... It may be too much for ordinary guys, but we'll kill you instantly!" She let out another sarcastic chuckle, and everyone tensed as another outbreak of violence became immanent.
Suddenly, a huge cloud of smoke billowed up from the ground between the genin and their older assailants. "Well, since everyone's introducing themselves, I'll do it also!" The voice that rang out was familiar to Naruto - he'd heard it only minutes before. He snapped to attention, belatedly taking the partner stance to Lee's for paired Gouken as the air cleared to reveal a huge, battle scarred, orange and blue toad the size of a horse, which had somehow appeared in the street facing the Snow nuke-nin. It was wearing the painted helmet and shoulder armor of a samurai, with a full daisho set sheathed on various bits of harness on its back and hips, and standing proudly on its head...
"The paragon of manliness no woman can resist... Frog of the Legendary Three Ninja..." The air became heavy with killing intent as he paused, and made a slight change in his usual spiel. "... also known as the Leaf's White-Maned Demon, I am Jiraya-sama." His abundance of spiky white locks bristled and shifted in an unseen wind, before he continued, "These little buds are in my care, but if you leave now, I'll let you escape," he growled. The toad's crouch shifted into an iajutsu stance to lend still more weight to the threat, its golden eyes narrowed and gleaming.
If Gin and Gomaru had been pale before, they were positively pallid now. The flames guttered out along the Snow kunoichi's katana, while her brother's fuuma shuriken fell with a clang from suddenly nerveless fingers. There was another moment of tension, then--
Jiraya jumped off of the toad, shouting "BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!" then burst out laughing as the two nuke-nin vanished, leaving only two small clouds of dust and a faint acrid odor. Still chuckling, he turned and shared a high-five with the toad, exclaiming, "Good one, eh Gamakenshi?"
"Got to be some benefit to being an old war dog, Jiraya. Ne, make sure you have some sake for me next time, you cheapskate," the summon replied, his voice gravelly in a way that went beyond mere stereotypical croaking - the well-worn vocal cords of a career soldier. Clicking his katana back firmly into its sheath, he turned and gave the genin a jaunty wave, then vanished in another huge cloud of chakra smoke.
The sudden release of tension made Rikou giggle as Jiraya hammed it up clapping imagined dust off his hands with what he obviously considered to be a "cool" expression (Gallant Jiraya is Modest in Victory), while Lee was practically bouncing at the Toad Sennin's dazzling display of youthful spirit. Naruto, though...
He had slumped, then the hand he'd had extended in the initial stance of Gouken, had clenched as dejection turned into self-disgust at the terror of death that had frozen him. "... kuso ... Kuso! KUSO!!" he swore, staring at his useless fist. Blind to his team mates' confused looks, he muttered to himself, "Nothing... I couldn't do anything... Damn!"
Gai leapt down from the perch he'd found on a nearby roof waiting for an opportunity to surprise the enemy shinobi, face set in a silent (for once) look of concern. The first shock of combat could be traumatic for even the brightest flower of youth, exposed to the harsh world, but his heart still knew confidence... Yes, he could practically see the bonfire of Naruto's spirit blaze up as the boy's head rose once more, flashing in his eyes!
"I SWEAR IT!" the blond proclaimed, "I'll fill this fist with the fire of youth, and strike instantly when an enemy appears, dattebayo!"
"NARUTO!" his sensei shouted, too moved to keep still another instant. The jumpsuit-clad jounin swept him into a rough embrace, bellowing "YOUR YOUTH IS BURNING BRILLIANTLY!" Lee and Rikou piled on from the sides briefly, but a pointed cough from Jiraya broke up the impending celebration of passionate spirit.
"... You can only be a Maito," the older ninja observed, restating his earlier deduction. "The short one said you were looking for me?" Ignoring the Naruto's indignant protests, he continued, "Eh, but maybe we should get out of here before the Kirika Guard asks annoying questions. Come with me."
--=--
They'd gone a few streets away to a different restaurant, the three genin filling one side of a corner booth while Gai and Jiraya took the one with a better view of the dining room. Naruto was now happily demolishing the supply of a local specialty flavor of ramen while Jiraya studied the scroll his old sensei had sent for him, and his team mates dug into meals of their own at more moderate speeds.
"Hmm, this is troublesome," the sennin said at last, rolling the scroll up again with a snap. He kept his voice low, and unobtrusively scanned the dining room for anyone coming their way or paying undue attention. "A criminal group based here in Kirika is said to be smuggling some kind of new, super-powerful ninja tool from Snow Country in the far south, something that makes even an Academy drop-out thug as strong as a chuunin. Sandaime wants me to investigate, since I've spent so much time travelling in other countries and I'm familiar with foreign techniques and equipment. He assigned your team as my subordinates, to either recover or destroy these nin-tools. Since we just met two missing-nin from Hidden Snow, it seems there's something to it." His spiky white hair rustled as he shook his head. "But the report said the criminals are not shinobi, with two jounin working for them it's too much for runts straight out of the Academy."
Rikou and Lee's faces fell at this last comment, but while Gai had a look that said he was obviously preparing another (loud) speech on the merits of youth and spirit, it was Naruto who spoke up first, jabbing his chopsticks at Jiraya accusingly. "Hey, hey old man! I said I'd strike instantly if an enemy of Konoha appeared, and I won't take back those words! I don't care who it is; that's my ninja way, dattebayo!" He gave the toad hermit his best outraged glare before ranting on. "What's the big deal anyway, Gai-sensei? You told us on our very first day that three genin could beat a jounin with teamwork and the power of youth!"
"It's so, it's so," Rikou confirmed, "You said that when you gave us a second chance by fighting you, after misunderstanding the obstacle course!"
Lee straightened in his seat, obviously wanting to bounce to his feet but stuck next to the wall on the bench. He brandished a fist in enthusiasm, however, and his eyes burned with an inner fire as he exclaimed, "YOSH! Gai-sensei, with your permission we'll overcome the enemy with the teamwork of youthful energy!"
Jiraya just sighed and took a deep swig of his sake as the conversation went downhill from there.
---=- + -=---
The boss of the Two Gees gang, Noumu, was trying to compose a report about the loss of the opium shipment that wouldn't get him a complementary close-up tour of the harbor when suddenly the kunoichi appeared. The jacket of his business suit was draped over a nearby plant pot, and he'd rolled up his sleeves to keep them from trailing into the fresh ink. A pale scar stood out under one eye as his face flushed, and he cursed furiously as surprise made him spill the inkwell across the papers on the low desk. He *hated* using nuke-nin - they drew too much attention, and were always arrogant bastards with no respect for the person paying their fee. He sneered as the former Snow-nin stepped fully into the light, growling, "So, you're back already. Did you at least send those interfering brats to hell?"
"Oyabun," Gin greeted the man sarcastically, though the superior smirk faded at the question. "There's some trouble with the brats. They're with Jiraya of the Legendary Three, the White-Maned Demon who killed an entire Hidden Stone brigade to the last man in their war against the Leaf. He's way too much for even us, unless..."
Even as she trailed off, her brother stepped out of another corner of the office. "That captain only hired us as extra security for the voyage, but we know what the ship was carrying anyway," he explained. "We were there when this new model was tested, when the former Jounin who became Snow Country's Daimyo personally wiped out everyone in Hidden Snow who opposed him... Everyone but us, the only ones to escape. With that armor, even Jiraya becomes easy."
"Are you INSANE!?" Noumu sputtered apoplectically. "If President Gatou heard the shipment was opened -"
"Don't be fooled by his other writing," Gin interrupted, "Jiraya is a master in collecting information. Is it better if he finds out about your deal and reports it to the Leaf?"
The crime boss could only grind his teeth and pound a fist against the desktop, beside the unreadable inky mess that had been his report.
---=- + -=---
Unusually, none of the members of Team Gai were up particularly early the next morning. It seemed that Lee had accidentally drank Jiraya's bottle of sake instead of his own grape pop and revealed an unexpected natural affinity for Drunken Style taijutsu, leaving him with a nasty first hangover and the rest of them too sore from trying to restrain him to greet the dawn with a few hundred pushups, crunches, dashes, squats, etc. as they were accustomed to doing. They'd had only time for a single warm-up lap around the city before the shops began to open, so they could buy new sets of training weights and get breakfast. Jiraya had blearily wandered out to join them then, having been out late gathering information - or at least, so he'd said, though the strong smell of sake and perfume the older man had exuded when he'd finally turned in might have made them wonder, had they not been sleeping the sound sleep of the exhausted at the time. Even now all of them avoided raising their voice.
A few cups of coffee later, the sennin finally came to full awareness, heaving a mighty yawn. "So, Gai," he finally began. "I saw the short one using the wall-climbing skill yesterday, but his control still sucks. With a jounin for each of us and the possibility of them using these new tools, the other thugs will be up to your genin. Have you tried them on water walking yet? I don't know about your clone or your daughter, but Uzumaki at least should have the chakra for some heavy ninjutsu if he got the control. I have 'that' contract, after all." The blond's indignant outburst was cut short as Jiraya praised him in the same breath, while Rikou mainly looked curious about the "contract" mentioned... Lee frowned and said nothing, pushing the veggies and rice in his bowl around with the end of his chopsticks.
Gai put a hand on the embarrassed boy's shoulder and replied seriously, "Due to a certain condition, Lee has no ability in ninjutsu or genjutsu - this limit has been overcome just enough that he can use 'Silent Cat's Foot' to avoid damaging the ground with the weight of his training gear. Because of this he trains only in taijutsu, and he has already become an amazing ninja using only that. With excellent physical conditioning, Rikou has gained a much greater chakra reserve than most genin kunoichi, and her control is also very good. Naruto's chakra is remarkable indeed though he still needs more control, as you noticed, and if you will allow it I think 'that' jutsu would be an excellent challenge for him to overcome!" Still seated, the jounin gave his best thumbs-up and grin, Naruto echoing it while Lee squared himself with a look of resolve, and Rikou smiled gently to see her team mates happy again.
"I have some time this morning before I'll be able to get in touch with my contacts - might as well use it to spend a little time with each of them. I know a good place to train on the edge of town."
---=- + -=---
The toad hermit had led them to a small beach secluded between two rocky headlands, sandy on one end but with ever-larger pebbles and rocks until the far end was nothing but a collection of boulders interspersed with tidal pools. Gai had taken Naruto and Rikou to one of the larger ones to explain the water-walking exercise while Lee and Jiraya stayed on the dry sand. He was slightly impressed at how the boy's steps left only the slightest mark even there - mastering the Silent Cat's Foot to that level was something few ninja bothered with until reaching the ANBU as high-level chuunin. "So, taijutsu only, eh?" he said, getting down to business.
"YOSH! I will prove that I can become an excellent ninja with taijutsu alone, for that is my ninja way!" Evidently, either Lee's hangover had faded, or he'd taken it as another challenge to be overcome with youth and spirit.
Judging by his still faintly blood shot eyes and the ever-so-slight wince at the sound of his own voice, Jiraya concluded it was the latter. *Man, what a lightweight,* he thought to himself, *but all things considered it's probably best if he doesn't try to build up a tolerance.* Aloud he said, "Really... if you're sure about that I suppose I'd better test your taijutsu, then." Lee skipped back a few feet and snapped into a ready stance, Jiraya likewise jumping clear, but rather than a stance of his own he bit his thumb and flashed through a few hand seals, before slapping his palm on the ground and announcing, "Ninpo: Kuchiose no Jutsu!" A cloud of chakra smoke burst up from the impact point, clearing to reveal a pair of frogs, one about the size of a large dog, green and sleek, with a sheathed katana gripped ready to draw, the other man sized, sky blue and warty, with the orange robe and forehead markings of a monk. "Gamatachiko, Gamakensei," the white-haired man greeted them. "This is just a training match, so don't go too far."
(continues in part b)
20060720 - finished Jiraya meeting, started training stuff
20061215 - training sequence begun, just endgame remains
20071214 - training continues, watched movie for armor details
20071217 - finished training, but three more scenes appeared
20071225 - lots of notes and fragments for last scenes
20071226 - one big fight down, just Bunta and the finale to go
20080430 - various edits, and started working on kyuubi/Bunta
20080502 - like REO Speedwagon sang, "got to keep a-pushin' on."
20080506 - FINALLY! Draft complete!
20080507 - the Rapid Reader Response System pointed out several things in need of a fix.
It had been a month now since they'd graduated, and Naruto almost wondered if it had been worth the trouble - well, not really, but the three genin had trained together nearly as much when they were still academy students, and at least then when Gai-sensei had a mission and couldn't join them they didn't have to join *him* painting houses or mowing lawns or catching poor Tora, the Fire daimyo's wife's cat *again* to be returned to the Hell of Smothering Tight Hugs.
Well, he thought there was probably a hell like that, anyway. He'd been chased away by some older kids the one time he'd ever tried to go to one of the temples during a festival, but he knew there were lots of weird hells, like the Hell of Whirling Blades and the Hell of Inverted Sinners and the Hell of Howling Winds - various adults had told him to go to most of them at one time or another, and he'd had too much experience with smothering hugs since he'd met his super-fuzzy-face sensei. At least those weren't caused by malice, just excess of excitement.
These thoughts had carried him through the somewhat dull routine of setting up some lightweight posts for the morning's training with Lee and Rikou while they waited for Gai to get their assignment for the afternoon. They'd gotten the process refined to a smooth system by now - Naruto would pick out a straight, arm-thick branch about the right length, Rikou would trim off all the twigs and leaves with a pair of blades attached to the ends of her silk rope, then Lee would break it off of the parent tree with a solid kick and Naruto would carry it back to the clearing, where Rikou would blast a narrow hole in the ground with 'Misukurinuku,' a basic water-type jutsu and, finally, Lee would slam it down into place before they went to get another.
Once they'd gotten a dozen or so of them set in a loose circle, all three would get a turn at jumping from one to the next all the way around before having a three-way spar where anyone who got knocked off the posts had to wait for a count of twenty before jumping back in. That much had been in the instructions Gai had given when they started doing the exercise each day, but they'd quickly added Self Rules as well - today, for example, Lee declared, "For this match, I shall stand only on my right leg, and if I'm knocked down I'll do left-leg squat-thrusts until the time limit passes!"
"Okay!" the blond enthused, his usual cheerful nature reasserting itself. "Well today I'll use only kicks, and if anyone can knock me down I'll do handstand push-ups until I get to come back!"
Rikou tightened the knots where she'd replaced the daggers on her cord with similarly shaped, blunt weights for training. "YEAH!" she shouted, charged up with their collective enthusiasm. "I'm going to hold the Kirigakure no jutsu for the whole fight, and if I fall it's BACKFLIPS!"
The two boys gasped, knowing how much she hated doing flips. They tended to loosen the bun she wore her hair in, even with four large pins to hold it. "Such dedication," Lee murmured, his eyes sparkling with re-doubled youthful spirit, while Naruto treated her to his best Nice Guy pose.
Oddly, Rikou always seemed to get a bit flushed when he did that, and sometimes her breath would catch, but when he'd asked her if he was doing it wrong she'd said no, it was just perfect and to please do it more. So he did, chalking it up to girl-wierdness. She shifted her hips and gave him a sultry grin before hopping up to the nearest pole and forming the hand seals to use Kirigakure no Jutsu, the basis of her mother's hybrid ninjutsu/genjutsu technique, 'Gorimuchuu.'
Rikou had much better chakra control than Naruto, but her biggest challenge as a ninja was maintaining that control when she was struck, so maintaining 'Kirigakure' at a constant level where it would feel and taste as damp as the genjutsu element of 'Gorimuchuu' would make enemies experience while still keeping it it thin enough that she and her team mates could see and distinguish each other by their bright outfits was a perfect Self Rule to practice. Doing that while also using chakra to stick her feet to the post with the tree-climbing technique Gai-sensei had taught them just added to the challenge!
With twin cries of excitement the boys joined her at the tops of the poles, and the battle began in earnest as the first edge of the sun peered over the horizon to light up the mist. It was really quite beautiful, the brightly-dressed girl thought as her weighted cord twirled and lashed out like a demented serpent, only barely avoided as Lee hopped and flipped over Naruto to another pole.
Legend of Explosive Youth Part Two
Team Six: Urgent Mission! Search for Gero-Sennin!
As usual, Maito Gai was the first person through the door after the ANBU assignments had been distributed, and Sarutobi had already set aside a pair of scrolls in anticipation. One was a normal mission scroll, the other held closed by his personal seal. Sandaime smiled tolerantly as the jounin landed in his customary Nice Guy pose, greeting, "Good morning. A quadruple flip today? You must be getting used to the new weights."
"YOSH!" Konoha's most excitable ninja cheered, eyes aflame with youthful passion. "I shall have to create a new pair, with the gravity seal set for six hundred and FIFTY pounds! No, six hundred and SEVENTY!" he shouted, pumping a fist. "I will do it this very afternoon, as soon as my excellent students have completed today's mission with youth and spirit!"
The Hokage hummed, and drew on his pipe. He savored the rich northern-coast blend for a moment, then puffed a double smoke ring and spoke. "Your team has shaped up well, then. That's good, Gai-kun. Do you think they are ready for a mission outside the village?" The mission reports on Team Six's progress had been uniformly positive, even when translated from Gai-ese, but he always preferred to leave such decisions to the sensei involved when he could. It was partly a mark of trust in his subordinates' judgment and partly the fact that even though he tried to get to know all of the ninja under his care, they were the ones working together day in and day out.
"Oooooooh!" The ebon-haired sensei crowed, manly tears of pride cascading down his cheeks. "HOKAGE-SAMA! I am so moved by your faith in the SHINING ENERGY of Team Explosive Youth! My precious students will accomplish any assignment with the POWER of their BRILLIANT SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!!"
Again, not an answer that came as a surprise. Sarutobi adjusted his squared-off hat and slid the scrolls across the desk, the C-Rank wrapper of the mission scroll plainly obvious. "As you can see, the mission has been rated higher than D-Rank, but mainly because it is likely to take two to three weeks rather than due to any exceptional danger. I immediately thought of your team because speed is of high importance. You should hold off on the new weights until afterward, and have your students leave theirs behind until the message scroll is delivered. I'll add an extra mission allowance for them to purchase new equipment at the destination."
Gai brushed his eyes dry, and bowed over the scrolls clutched tight to his chest. "You're so GENEROUS, Hokage-sama!" he cried, before vanishing in a puff of chakra smoke.
Sarutobi grinned again at the man's antics, then signaled for the next waiting shinobi to be sent in.
---=- + -=---
When Gai poofed into existence at the training ground, he found his charges still hard at work in the sun-touched mist, Lee hopping and flipping from one post to the next as he avoided Rikou's furious assault, attacking across the full width of the circle with her long, weighted cord.
Naruto was on the ground, doing two handstand push-ups for each second as he counted them off, "18, 19, 20, dattebayo!" He flipped down to his feet and then formed the seal for a bunshin as he leapt again, one heading for Lee on the right, one for Rikou on the left, and one straight across to the far side of the circle. One of the kunoichi's weights sailed through that last, the puff of smoke invisible in the mist as it was disrupted, while the one heading for the Proud Green Beast dissolved on its own after he dodged out of the way. Rikou's second cord was already wrapping around her real team mate, but too late - the blond's snap kick knocked her off her perch and set himself spinning to unwind the flat silk binding. Coming to a halt on a post next to the one she'd been occupying, he bounced exuberantly and crowed, "YEAH! Got'cha back!"
"You should WATCH your back," the bowl-cut boy reminded helpfully, even as he landed a kick to the side of Naruto's post and sent him flailing, to fall right in Rikou's arms as she was climbing to her feet. He bounced back from the springy, greenwood post, reaching overhead to grab the one he had rebounded towards and vault to the top.
After making sure Naruto's face had been in place long enough for him to realize where she was holding it, Rikou let the struggling genin disentangle himself and get into another handstand, obviously trying to pretend the blood had rushed to his cheeks from being upside down. *He's so cute when he's like that,* she thought to herself, forming a short burst of hand seals before beginning her own series of backflips. Feeling the faint tingle across her scalp, the Maito heiress called out excitedly, "YOSH! Kunoichi Ninpo: Koyonaigamigata no Jutsu ... SUCCESS!!" No matter how boldly she expressed the explosive energy of her glorious springtime of youth, she'd never have to worry about looking bad while doing it! The sheer joy of it was enough to buoy her up and do a double backflip on the count of twelve.
Not to be left out, Lee jumped down on his own, and began another series of squat-thrusts.
Wiping new tears of pride from his eyes, Gai waited for the genin to complete their forfeits before teleporting again, appearing in a puff of smoke atop one of the poles. "AN EXCELLENT BATTLE, MY STUDENTS!" he bellowed, "Your youthful spirit has brought tears to my eyes! Alas, I must sadly announce that our usual morning practice is impossible for the next while, but DO NOT DESPAIR!" He leapt down form the pole, landing in another action-hero pose before continuing, "The burning passion of your springtime of youth shall NOT be ignored! We will be forgoing it only because our wise and generous Hokage has assigned a long-term mission to Team Explosive Youth!"
One glance at the mission scroll his sensei was brandishing was enough to have the hyperactive blond hopping around and shouting his excitement to the world. "YEAH! YEAH! C-RANK MISSION! And next, B-Rank, and A-Rank, and S-Rank, and then I'll be Hokage and surpass all previous Hokages IN MY FLOWERING SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! DATTEBAYO!" He bounced off an overhanging bough and homed in on the powerposing jounin, taking uncommon initiative in wrapping the man in a tacklehug. "OH GAI-SENSEI! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING US A COOLER MISSION!"
Their own excited cries echoing across the training field, Lee and Rikou latched on from the sides, all four taking several minutes to recover themselves.
---=- + -=---
Gai was in what might be called 'serious mode' as the team collected again at the village gates, each carrying a backpack. The lack of training weights on her calves left Rikou with a tan line, and even the boys' jumpsuits were a bit darker on the lower legs, since they wore the weights continually except to wash and for two hours of their training each day to practice moving without them and the massive difference they caused in their center of balance. He gave each only a brief arm-clasp as they arrived, then checked over their equipment. Finding everything in order - if a bit heavy on the instant ramen for Naruto, but if the boy wanted to challenge himself with just a LITTLE extra weight, who was Gai to dissuade him? He did make Lee dump about half of the rocks in his pack, though - the bowl-cut jounin took his customary explanation pose to go over the assignment details.
"The mission that Hokage-sama has entrusted to Team Explosive Youth will require your top speed," he reminded them, explaining, "We will be searching for a certain man to deliver a top secret scroll! He was last seen near the seaside town of Kirika, on the Taimatsu Peninsula, and since many people celebrate the Planting Festival there this time of year, he should still be nearby." The usual enthusiastic expression on his super-fuzzy face turned stern for a moment as Gai instructed, "This mission, it has a strict time limit. Even if we meet bandits or enemy ninja, the first priority is to go forward, without spending time on a fight."
Lee nodded seriously, taking notes in his little book, but Naruto kicked at the ground in disgust and scoffed, swinging his pack by one strap in irritation. Rikou, snuggled up to the blond boy's back, shot a frown at her father over his shoulder, then heaved a sigh after it. "Moooooou, SENSEI..." he complained, trying to ignore the warm, soft girl against his back (and especially those and his imagination has to be running away with him because his jacket's too thick to feel *that* and it's just Rikou being huggy again and he's talking to Gai-sensei about the mission, dammit!) "How can we prove our strength as ninja if we run away from the fight? That's too uncool!"
Suddenly, Gai had replaced Rikou, and was delivering a power-noogie instead of a snuggle. "FOOL!" he scolded. "Knowing when the mission outweighs a battle is the MOST IMPORTANT strength of a ninja! To remember, you must do five hundred one-arm pushups with each arm as soon as we arrive!" Just as suddenly released, the blond staggered against his kunoichi team mate, who'd appeared off-balance in front of him when the jounin had used 'Kawarimi' to switch places with her. Unable to maintain his anger, the older man swept both of them into a crushing hug, proclaiming, "EVEN THOUGH IT'S WRONG, I STILL FORGIVE YOU MY STUDENT, FOR THE EAGER SPIRIT OF YOUTH IS WHAT DRIVES YOU! OOOOOOOH!"
"OH, GAI SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed, piling on from the other side. "YOU'RE SO MAGNANIMOUS!"
Naruto and Rikou may have made positive noises, or may have been merely praying to the Kami of the Breathing Miracle. They were turned loose before going completely blue, however, and after a few gasps the foxy blond shouldered his backpack and asked, "Hey, hey, sensei, who are we looking for, anyway? You didn't tell us what he looks like or anything!"
"The man we are searching for has not been in Konoha for many years," Gai explained seriously, "but he has been seen wearing a dark green shirt and pants, with a red vest and sandals, carries a large scroll on a shoulder strap, and has long, spiky white hair. He is... Jiraya, frog summoner of the Leaf's Legendary Three!" Pointing dramatically out through the open gate, he commanded, "TEAM EXPLOSIVE YOUTH! HASSHIN!!" There were four muted booms like distant thunder as the team pushed off, literally leaping to full speed and raising a cloud of dust. The gate guard on duty muttered a curse on over-enthusiastic bowl-heads as it subsided, then used a doton jutsu to smooth out the deep footprint craters left behind in the path.
---=- + -=---
They'd had to stop for rest at night and (briefly) every so often during the daylight hours, of course, because even as well conditioned as they were, the kids were still rookie genin. Even so, they were closing in on a destination most ninja would call a week away after only four days, and it was barely mid-afternoon. Gai had gone to scout ahead while his subordinates refilled their canteens at a small stream and munched granola bars. They hadn't spoken much during the trip, and what little conversation they'd made was conducted in hushed whispers, words distorted by avoiding the sibilants that would carry more easily to alert possible enemies to their presence.
That fact might have surprised someone who only knew the boisterous personalities Gai and his charges usually presented, but he hadn't achieved the Elite Jounin rank without understanding the concept of field discipline and - since part of their objective was to avoid confrontations anyway - he'd made a stealth drill part of the exercise. Naruto was now up to one thousand one-armed push ups on each arm, 1500 sit ups, and six hundred squat-thrusts due on arrival as penalty for forgetting to keep his voice down, Rikou only slightly less, and Lee almost half again as many more. Still, even he'd finally gotten the hang of it, and as his idol appeared the bowl-cut wearing genin contented himself with springing to his feet with open arms and shining eyes.
Momentarily overcome with pride at their progress, Gai shared a quick hug with his younger doppelganger, then stepped back to give them all a thumbs-up, super-bushy moustache twitching as he fought to keep from showing a smile that could give away their position with the telltale glint of reflected sunlight. Manly tears escaped the corners of his eyes as the genin followed suit, and sniffles normally hidden by exclamations of excitement echoed softly in the small clearing.
Bringing his youthful passion once more under control, Gai signaled for a huddle, murmuring seriously once the circle was complete, "A party of smugglers have infested the clearing ahead; they appear to be two groups trading contraband. We would avoid them like all others up to now, but..." The jounin's features twisted into a surprisingly fierce scowl. "They are trading opium, to poison the spirited youth of Fire Country." He drew a kunai and scratched a quick sketch into the dirt, an irregular circle with two squares inside. Pointing to the larger square, he explained, "We'll make a single attack as we pass through. This is where the opium crates are stacked, the other area is kegs of fire-apple whiskey. I'll go first and knock the crates in the air, Lee, you follow and smash as many open as you can while bouncing between them. Rikou will be next, and perform 'Misukurinuku' to dissolve the opium in the broken crates - this stream joins another on the low side of the clearing, here, for you to draw on. Naruto, you take the rear. Throw 'Kaen' to set the kegs alight. There are many thugs in the area, but none appear to be ninja, so there should be no pursuit, but if one of them is surprising remember that the priority is to escape and continue the mission." Looking around the circle Gai saw Lee nodding seriously, while Naruto bounced in excitement at finally getting to use some ninjutsu on this mission and Rikou watched him with a smile for how happy he seemed.
--=--
The plan had gone off without a hitch, leaving the smugglers milling about in confusion and cursing ninja brats who show up out of nowhere to ruin a deal worth thousands of ryo - apparently Gai had blazed through too quickly to be seen for more than a streak, even though he'd had to kick over a dozen large crates into the air as he'd passed. Lee had hardly been any slower, ricocheting from one to the next and flinging them back down with shattering force, but Rikou had to pause, balancing in mid-air on the jet of water as she played it across the wreckage before continuing on, and Naruto had actually landed and stood on one of the less intelligent thugs' head for his part. The prehistoric-looking enforcer had just started reaching up to feel around on his noggin and even the fastest of his fellows were still drawing their weapons as the Blazing Orange Wildfire bounced away again, laughing madly at how pathetic the whole encounter was - he'd had tougher opposition playing pranks on that mean old guy with the vegetable stall in Konoha Market than from both gangs put together.
---=- + -=---
Team Explosive Youth split up once they reached Kirika, searching block by block after an initial sweep at the main shrine, hoping to find their target before another night passed (or they'd all do 500 wind sprints.) Now the glorious sunset tapestry of orange and gold had faded to a thin glow on the horizon, and still they'd had no luck. Naruto's stomach rumbled louder than his footsteps as he jumped up and clung to a lamp post to survey the lightly traveled side street, delicious smells of miso and noodles wafting out of a nearby restaurant.
"The passionate flames of a youthful spirit need a good fuel supply," he reasoned, "I'll just look for him inside while I get some food, dattebayo!" Ignoring the handful of passerby who'd stopped to point and marvel at a boy standing sideways on a lamp post, he hopped down and skipped toward the entrance, eyes screwed up with a wide foxy grin, only to run into some one coming out. The blond stumbled backwards a couple of steps before regaining his balance, and opened his mouth to curse out the old fool who'd...
"Ano sa, ano sa, what did Gai-sensei say the guy we're looking for was like again?" he asked himself, frowning in concentration. He snapped his fingers and looked closely at the bemused older man, counting the points off as he catalogued them. "Bushy white hair, yep, green top and pants, yep, red vest and sandals, big scroll, yep yep..." The orange-clad genin crossed his arms and nodded decisively. "...but a legendary ninja wouldn't have such a stupid look; must be the wrong guy. Sorry Oji-san!"
The stranger's jaw dropped, eyes blank with shocked dismay.
"Ne, if you see a ninja who looks like you, tell him there's an important message from the Hidden Leaf, okay?" Naruto continued, obliviously.
"Why you little..." The traveler recovered himself, then delivered a smack that left the boy rubbing his shoulder agreivedly. Assured that he was paying attention, the white-maned man pointedly adjusted his horned hitae-ate, then took up a dramatic pose (Gallant Jiraya Appears) and announced, "I am... Legendary Frog of the Three Ninja... the handsome wanderer who's irresistible to women... Jiraya-sama!" (Ore wa... Densetsu no Gero San-nin, etc.)
"Ero-sennin?" Naruto mumbled, unimpressed. Jiraya's eyebrow twitched, but before he could protest his mangled title the blonde burst into motion, jumping excitedly as he hollered, "Okay, okay! Now *I'LL* introduce myself!" Coming down into a crouch, he hurtled up into the air, at least twenty five feet by the older man's experienced eye. Forming a tiger seal, the boy blasted off a pair of 'Kaen,' one upward to signal his team mates, the other down to light a short-lived bonfire in the street to pose in front of as he landed. "Like an erupting volcano, the Leaf's Blazing Orange Wildfire, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived, dattebayo!" the blond shouted, one arm extended in a thumbs-up and the fire light glinting off of a brilliant smile.
He missed the quickly-suppressed look of shock that crossed his target's face. *Uzumaki Naruto... This is that boy?* the wandering ninja thought, deciding, *This should be interesting.*
---=- + -=---
A brilliant streamer of flame lit up the dusk, drawing the attention of the ninja currently searching Kirika. Well, Gai happened to be indoors at the time, so he missed it - he knew his target, and was checking the geisha parlors himself to protect his students' precious, youthful innocence. Lee and Rikou arrived in time to see Naruto rubbing his head as he admitted to not actually knowing what the important message is, because their sensei had the scroll.
Rikou nodded affirmatively and noted, "He said that Sandaime-sama chose our team specifically, because it had a strict time limit to get to you."
"Un, un," Lee agreed. "With youthful spirit to lend us wings, not even a messenger hawk could have defeated us!"
Jiraya gave the green-suited boy a skeptical look, then blinked, put together the genins' speed, speech patterns, and outfits, then drawled, "Your sensei... It's Maito Gai, isn't it?"
Both boys gasped at this incredible feat of deduction, while Rikou flashed a grin and victory-sign, but the sennin was no longer paying attention. The street had emptied again with the displays of ninja skill apparently finished, and the three genin paled as a spike of ice suddenly burst from the ground, drilling up through the man they'd been sent to find in a gory spray of blood and mangled flesh.
"E-ero sennin?" Naruto stuttered, frozen in shock and unable even to look around as cruel laughter echoed around the small street, all the more terrible as it cut through the faint sounds of celebration from the festival still ongoing nearby.
"So, it seems one of you was an adult after all." The voice was a woman's, with a clipped regional accent and cold with contempt.
Appearing from the white wall of a building opposite the restaurant that had originally attracted the blond genin's attention, a man contradicted her, his tone just as icy. "No, just a kid who got old. An adult should know better than to meddle with things that aren't their concern." He was dressed in a sleeveless, light grey jumpsuit with blue piping at the seams, loose as if it was intended to be worn over a bulky inner layer, with a hitae-ate bearing an unfamiliar insignia - four small dots in an irregular pattern - marred by the deep slash of a nuke-nin. The unknown nin's skin was pale, while his hair and eyes were dark, and his right arm snapped up to fire a cord from the grapple launcher strapped to it to tie up Lee, who'd begun to shake off his shock.
At almost the same instant, a second grapple line came from the kunoichi behind them, joining with the first to restrain the bowl-cut genin, who vibrated in place like a spring as he tried to lunge free at the last moment only to be jerked back. She drew a handful of kunai, bringing her left arm back and aiming for three simultaneous, lethal strikes.
Before the hits could land, Rikou broke out of her immobility, two kunai of her own slicing Lee free to dodge, while a leaping tackle took her and Naruto out of the line of fire. Quickly disentangling herself for once, the young kunoichi rolled back to her feet, shouting, "We're not so easy!" as she quickly slipped the coil of silk cord from her shoulder and attached another pair of kunai. Naruto was right beside her, but still in a fugue state thinking of how quickly their mission had gone bad. Somewhat dazedly, he brought his hands up, but the signs to activate 'Hiyoroi' just wouldn't form.
Delayed momentarily to struggle free of the restraining cords, Lee too hopped to his feet, taking up the initial stance of the Gouken taijutsu style. He and Rikou formed up in front of the still-shocked blond, their opponents squaring off arrogantly a few steps away after rewinding the cut ends of their grapple lines.
"You brats obviously have no idea who you're dealing with," the man gloated, smirking. "Since it would be tragic for your young lives to end and not even be able to tell Shinigami who killed you, we'll introduce ourselves. I'm Atsuikaze Gomaru." The snow-nin drew a fuuma shuriken as he spoke, and set it to spinning around the fingers of his off hand, whirls of dust kicking up around him as the nuke-nin fed chakra into his weapon and thence to the air.
Drawing the twin katana poking over her shoulders, the woman continued, "And I'm Atsuikaze Gin, called the Burning Edge of Hidden Snow." One ready to guard, the other poised to attack, a line of thin orange flames traced down each blade. "Before we left Snow Country, we were full jounin! Some brats making trouble out of school... It may be too much for ordinary guys, but we'll kill you instantly!" She let out another sarcastic chuckle, and everyone tensed as another outbreak of violence became immanent.
Suddenly, a huge cloud of smoke billowed up from the ground between the genin and their older assailants. "Well, since everyone's introducing themselves, I'll do it also!" The voice that rang out was familiar to Naruto - he'd heard it only minutes before. He snapped to attention, belatedly taking the partner stance to Lee's for paired Gouken as the air cleared to reveal a huge, battle scarred, orange and blue toad the size of a horse, which had somehow appeared in the street facing the Snow nuke-nin. It was wearing the painted helmet and shoulder armor of a samurai, with a full daisho set sheathed on various bits of harness on its back and hips, and standing proudly on its head...
"The paragon of manliness no woman can resist... Frog of the Legendary Three Ninja..." The air became heavy with killing intent as he paused, and made a slight change in his usual spiel. "... also known as the Leaf's White-Maned Demon, I am Jiraya-sama." His abundance of spiky white locks bristled and shifted in an unseen wind, before he continued, "These little buds are in my care, but if you leave now, I'll let you escape," he growled. The toad's crouch shifted into an iajutsu stance to lend still more weight to the threat, its golden eyes narrowed and gleaming.
If Gin and Gomaru had been pale before, they were positively pallid now. The flames guttered out along the Snow kunoichi's katana, while her brother's fuuma shuriken fell with a clang from suddenly nerveless fingers. There was another moment of tension, then--
Jiraya jumped off of the toad, shouting "BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!" then burst out laughing as the two nuke-nin vanished, leaving only two small clouds of dust and a faint acrid odor. Still chuckling, he turned and shared a high-five with the toad, exclaiming, "Good one, eh Gamakenshi?"
"Got to be some benefit to being an old war dog, Jiraya. Ne, make sure you have some sake for me next time, you cheapskate," the summon replied, his voice gravelly in a way that went beyond mere stereotypical croaking - the well-worn vocal cords of a career soldier. Clicking his katana back firmly into its sheath, he turned and gave the genin a jaunty wave, then vanished in another huge cloud of chakra smoke.
The sudden release of tension made Rikou giggle as Jiraya hammed it up clapping imagined dust off his hands with what he obviously considered to be a "cool" expression (Gallant Jiraya is Modest in Victory), while Lee was practically bouncing at the Toad Sennin's dazzling display of youthful spirit. Naruto, though...
He had slumped, then the hand he'd had extended in the initial stance of Gouken, had clenched as dejection turned into self-disgust at the terror of death that had frozen him. "... kuso ... Kuso! KUSO!!" he swore, staring at his useless fist. Blind to his team mates' confused looks, he muttered to himself, "Nothing... I couldn't do anything... Damn!"
Gai leapt down from the perch he'd found on a nearby roof waiting for an opportunity to surprise the enemy shinobi, face set in a silent (for once) look of concern. The first shock of combat could be traumatic for even the brightest flower of youth, exposed to the harsh world, but his heart still knew confidence... Yes, he could practically see the bonfire of Naruto's spirit blaze up as the boy's head rose once more, flashing in his eyes!
"I SWEAR IT!" the blond proclaimed, "I'll fill this fist with the fire of youth, and strike instantly when an enemy appears, dattebayo!"
"NARUTO!" his sensei shouted, too moved to keep still another instant. The jumpsuit-clad jounin swept him into a rough embrace, bellowing "YOUR YOUTH IS BURNING BRILLIANTLY!" Lee and Rikou piled on from the sides briefly, but a pointed cough from Jiraya broke up the impending celebration of passionate spirit.
"... You can only be a Maito," the older ninja observed, restating his earlier deduction. "The short one said you were looking for me?" Ignoring the Naruto's indignant protests, he continued, "Eh, but maybe we should get out of here before the Kirika Guard asks annoying questions. Come with me."
--=--
They'd gone a few streets away to a different restaurant, the three genin filling one side of a corner booth while Gai and Jiraya took the one with a better view of the dining room. Naruto was now happily demolishing the supply of a local specialty flavor of ramen while Jiraya studied the scroll his old sensei had sent for him, and his team mates dug into meals of their own at more moderate speeds.
"Hmm, this is troublesome," the sennin said at last, rolling the scroll up again with a snap. He kept his voice low, and unobtrusively scanned the dining room for anyone coming their way or paying undue attention. "A criminal group based here in Kirika is said to be smuggling some kind of new, super-powerful ninja tool from Snow Country in the far south, something that makes even an Academy drop-out thug as strong as a chuunin. Sandaime wants me to investigate, since I've spent so much time travelling in other countries and I'm familiar with foreign techniques and equipment. He assigned your team as my subordinates, to either recover or destroy these nin-tools. Since we just met two missing-nin from Hidden Snow, it seems there's something to it." His spiky white hair rustled as he shook his head. "But the report said the criminals are not shinobi, with two jounin working for them it's too much for runts straight out of the Academy."
Rikou and Lee's faces fell at this last comment, but while Gai had a look that said he was obviously preparing another (loud) speech on the merits of youth and spirit, it was Naruto who spoke up first, jabbing his chopsticks at Jiraya accusingly. "Hey, hey old man! I said I'd strike instantly if an enemy of Konoha appeared, and I won't take back those words! I don't care who it is; that's my ninja way, dattebayo!" He gave the toad hermit his best outraged glare before ranting on. "What's the big deal anyway, Gai-sensei? You told us on our very first day that three genin could beat a jounin with teamwork and the power of youth!"
"It's so, it's so," Rikou confirmed, "You said that when you gave us a second chance by fighting you, after misunderstanding the obstacle course!"
Lee straightened in his seat, obviously wanting to bounce to his feet but stuck next to the wall on the bench. He brandished a fist in enthusiasm, however, and his eyes burned with an inner fire as he exclaimed, "YOSH! Gai-sensei, with your permission we'll overcome the enemy with the teamwork of youthful energy!"
Jiraya just sighed and took a deep swig of his sake as the conversation went downhill from there.
---=- + -=---
The boss of the Two Gees gang, Noumu, was trying to compose a report about the loss of the opium shipment that wouldn't get him a complementary close-up tour of the harbor when suddenly the kunoichi appeared. The jacket of his business suit was draped over a nearby plant pot, and he'd rolled up his sleeves to keep them from trailing into the fresh ink. A pale scar stood out under one eye as his face flushed, and he cursed furiously as surprise made him spill the inkwell across the papers on the low desk. He *hated* using nuke-nin - they drew too much attention, and were always arrogant bastards with no respect for the person paying their fee. He sneered as the former Snow-nin stepped fully into the light, growling, "So, you're back already. Did you at least send those interfering brats to hell?"
"Oyabun," Gin greeted the man sarcastically, though the superior smirk faded at the question. "There's some trouble with the brats. They're with Jiraya of the Legendary Three, the White-Maned Demon who killed an entire Hidden Stone brigade to the last man in their war against the Leaf. He's way too much for even us, unless..."
Even as she trailed off, her brother stepped out of another corner of the office. "That captain only hired us as extra security for the voyage, but we know what the ship was carrying anyway," he explained. "We were there when this new model was tested, when the former Jounin who became Snow Country's Daimyo personally wiped out everyone in Hidden Snow who opposed him... Everyone but us, the only ones to escape. With that armor, even Jiraya becomes easy."
"Are you INSANE!?" Noumu sputtered apoplectically. "If President Gatou heard the shipment was opened -"
"Don't be fooled by his other writing," Gin interrupted, "Jiraya is a master in collecting information. Is it better if he finds out about your deal and reports it to the Leaf?"
The crime boss could only grind his teeth and pound a fist against the desktop, beside the unreadable inky mess that had been his report.
---=- + -=---
Unusually, none of the members of Team Gai were up particularly early the next morning. It seemed that Lee had accidentally drank Jiraya's bottle of sake instead of his own grape pop and revealed an unexpected natural affinity for Drunken Style taijutsu, leaving him with a nasty first hangover and the rest of them too sore from trying to restrain him to greet the dawn with a few hundred pushups, crunches, dashes, squats, etc. as they were accustomed to doing. They'd had only time for a single warm-up lap around the city before the shops began to open, so they could buy new sets of training weights and get breakfast. Jiraya had blearily wandered out to join them then, having been out late gathering information - or at least, so he'd said, though the strong smell of sake and perfume the older man had exuded when he'd finally turned in might have made them wonder, had they not been sleeping the sound sleep of the exhausted at the time. Even now all of them avoided raising their voice.
A few cups of coffee later, the sennin finally came to full awareness, heaving a mighty yawn. "So, Gai," he finally began. "I saw the short one using the wall-climbing skill yesterday, but his control still sucks. With a jounin for each of us and the possibility of them using these new tools, the other thugs will be up to your genin. Have you tried them on water walking yet? I don't know about your clone or your daughter, but Uzumaki at least should have the chakra for some heavy ninjutsu if he got the control. I have 'that' contract, after all." The blond's indignant outburst was cut short as Jiraya praised him in the same breath, while Rikou mainly looked curious about the "contract" mentioned... Lee frowned and said nothing, pushing the veggies and rice in his bowl around with the end of his chopsticks.
Gai put a hand on the embarrassed boy's shoulder and replied seriously, "Due to a certain condition, Lee has no ability in ninjutsu or genjutsu - this limit has been overcome just enough that he can use 'Silent Cat's Foot' to avoid damaging the ground with the weight of his training gear. Because of this he trains only in taijutsu, and he has already become an amazing ninja using only that. With excellent physical conditioning, Rikou has gained a much greater chakra reserve than most genin kunoichi, and her control is also very good. Naruto's chakra is remarkable indeed though he still needs more control, as you noticed, and if you will allow it I think 'that' jutsu would be an excellent challenge for him to overcome!" Still seated, the jounin gave his best thumbs-up and grin, Naruto echoing it while Lee squared himself with a look of resolve, and Rikou smiled gently to see her team mates happy again.
"I have some time this morning before I'll be able to get in touch with my contacts - might as well use it to spend a little time with each of them. I know a good place to train on the edge of town."
---=- + -=---
The toad hermit had led them to a small beach secluded between two rocky headlands, sandy on one end but with ever-larger pebbles and rocks until the far end was nothing but a collection of boulders interspersed with tidal pools. Gai had taken Naruto and Rikou to one of the larger ones to explain the water-walking exercise while Lee and Jiraya stayed on the dry sand. He was slightly impressed at how the boy's steps left only the slightest mark even there - mastering the Silent Cat's Foot to that level was something few ninja bothered with until reaching the ANBU as high-level chuunin. "So, taijutsu only, eh?" he said, getting down to business.
"YOSH! I will prove that I can become an excellent ninja with taijutsu alone, for that is my ninja way!" Evidently, either Lee's hangover had faded, or he'd taken it as another challenge to be overcome with youth and spirit.
Judging by his still faintly blood shot eyes and the ever-so-slight wince at the sound of his own voice, Jiraya concluded it was the latter. *Man, what a lightweight,* he thought to himself, *but all things considered it's probably best if he doesn't try to build up a tolerance.* Aloud he said, "Really... if you're sure about that I suppose I'd better test your taijutsu, then." Lee skipped back a few feet and snapped into a ready stance, Jiraya likewise jumping clear, but rather than a stance of his own he bit his thumb and flashed through a few hand seals, before slapping his palm on the ground and announcing, "Ninpo: Kuchiose no Jutsu!" A cloud of chakra smoke burst up from the impact point, clearing to reveal a pair of frogs, one about the size of a large dog, green and sleek, with a sheathed katana gripped ready to draw, the other man sized, sky blue and warty, with the orange robe and forehead markings of a monk. "Gamatachiko, Gamakensei," the white-haired man greeted them. "This is just a training match, so don't go too far."
(continues in part b)