Naruto was now a bio-boosted ninja, his body having been infused with the Symbiot ‘nano-machines’ of the ancient Gardeners. His physical attributes had been greatly enhanced… strength, speed, reflexes, even his mental acuity and vision! Of course, Naruto is Naruto, so while it was now much easier for him to recall information with his tiny helpers holding up figurative flashcards, he would still put his foot in his mouth or say something stupid.
But the real ‘power’ of his enhancement came from the ‘Gale Cutter,’ a relic Naruto had found by accident while helping Gina categorize recent finds- knuckleheaded ninja or not, those Shadow Clones are damn useful for that kind of work! While the majority of the Symbiots inside Naruto were basic ‘utility’ types, the ‘core’ Symbiots from Gale Cutter were an entirely different breed. With the Symbiots gained from that sword, Naruto could create anything from a gentle breeze to a crushing hurricane, a hammer blow of concussive wind or a blade as thin as a scalpel.
Jiraiya had faked jealousy at first to humor his student, having missed out on such a useful little upgrade. But as he, and later Theodore Diggers, had shown Naruto: just because you’re ‘bio-boosted’ doesn’t mean you’re invincible. They had drilled that into the young blonde’s head over the course of three months.
Now, though, they had found their way back home, and it was time to report in, but Jiraiya had to restrain Naruto from making a flashy entrance, all while the blonde pouted that Jiraiya had done the same thing back during the Chunin Exams. So they walked through the front gates with little fanfare before taking to the roofs.
“Ne, ero-sennin, the village so… vibrant now, ‘tebayo!” Naruto chirped as they sped closer to the Hokage tower. “It’s shinier than Earth was!”
Jiraiya snorted and resisted the urge to lightly smack his student. “Of course it is, Naruto. You remember what Dr. Diggers said about Earth and how their ‘magic-users’ had all left,” he said with false disdain. “The Hidden Continent is going to be more vibrant because of all the chakra use. It might take a while for those little guys to get used to the difference in ambient energy levels.”
“Eh? What’s ‘ambient energy levels’ mean, ero-sennin?” Naruto asked, a confused look on his face as he barely swerved around a pole. “The Symbiots don’t know either, dattebayo…”
“It means the energy in the landscape. There’s more energy just… lying around in Konoha than there was on Earth.” Jiraiya explained in a sagely tone, a smirk on his face as he came to a stop. “You might not see it the way a Hyuuga or Uchiha describes the experience, but all of that energy makes things look brighter than normal for now.”
“Un!” Naruto grunted, nodding more to himself than to Jiraiya. “So… how do you wanna go about meeting with ‘baa-chan?”
Jiraiya gave a boisterous chuckle before grinning widely at the smaller male and ‘lightly’ slapping him across the back… a slap which sent the blonde flying across the street and into the window of the Hokage’s office. A nice flashy entrance in the office was alright, Tsunade could probably use the wake up call.
As it turned out, Tsunade did not need the wake up call, and Naruto barely managed to avoid being embedded in the floor or landing face first in the relaxing woman’s cleavage. Naturally, this entrance prompted a makeshift game of tag as Tsunade attempted to punish her obviously delinquent ‘grandson.’ All while Shizune tried to stop the pair of blondes before they destroyed the office… but the young medic couldn’t quite shake the smile from her face. Naruto had been back in their lives for less than a minute and already things seemed so much livelier.
“Yo, hime-chan.” Jiraiya teased as he landed on the window sill. “Can’t catch the brat anymore either, eh?”
Tsunade paused to glare indignantly at her former teammate, her hands on her hips. “So, he’s taken to your training that well, has he?” she asked, her right eye twitching as Naruto laughed at her inability to catch him.
“Yes… and no.” Jiraiya said slowly, his face growing more serious. “I’d love to take all the credit for the brat’s advancement, you know I would… but with the circumstances as they are… well, why don’t you explain, Naruto?” The sage sighed and held a hand out when the blonde got an excited look on his face. “Just the important parts, kid. Tsunade doesn’t need to know all the details right now. I can explain the minor bits later.”
“So… just from Earth, then?” Naruto asked, blinking owlishly when Jiraiya nodded. “Okay… well, we were going around with Gina-neechan and her friends, and there was this big old storehouse in, uh… Peru, I think…” he scratched his head before shaking it a few times, “Anyway, I was using Shadow Clones to help her sort stuff from it, and one of the relics just came alive and attacked me, dattebayo!”
“It… attacked you?”
Naruto chuckled weakly and rubbed the back of his head. “Well… it seemed like it was at the time, Shizune-neechan,” he admitted feebly. “But it was really trying to merge with me, because that’s how its… anno…” Naruto paused, an oddly thoughtful expression on his face, “true power is expressed. So now I have a bunch of little Symbiots inside of me, and they help me be more awesome, dattebayo!”
“I see…” Tsunade said evenly. “And these ‘Symbiots’… they’ve done nothing regarding your… tenant?”
“Anno… well, they don’t talk to Kyuubi or anything like that, if that’s what you’re worried about, ‘baa-chan.” Naruto said, his eyes crossing slightly. “They say that they’re using Kyuubi as an… ‘alternative power source’ and making it easier for the Yondaime’s seal to hold it back. Oh, oh! And I can do this!”
Naruto grinned a kitsune’s grin before palm striking at the air, a light gust of wind rushing forward and sending a stack of paperwork flying. His grin faded, however, after Tsunade whacked him across the back of the head for making her job more annoying.
“Naruto, you knucklehead!” Tsunade growled. “I just finished sorting all of that. Just for that, you:
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(Posted Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:22)
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