Fanfic: Joyous Children Ch 38, Naruto

Hi, long time no see! Life happened and also, working on an original story surprisingly takes a lot of energy. Sorry for the wait. Beta'ed by NightsBlackRose13 as always.

Chapter 32: Flashing Lights

Tsunade paused in the middle of taking another swig from the sake bottle that was perpetually by her side as of late. Her face was incredulous. "I can't believe you let yourself get conned into training Jiraiya's brat."

Orochimaru bristled in indignation. "I did not," he snarled, "'tis merely a test of skill which he has no chance of winning."

Tsunade threw her head back and cackled. "Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Jiraiya would have called her tone 'mean', had he been there.

She was still cackling by the time he stepped outside and closed the door to her office and although the entire conversation had been deeply humiliating, he couldn't help but notice that that had been the first time he'd seen Hime smile after Nawaki's death.

It helped soothe the burn, if nothing else.

)()()( )()()(

So.

I don't know how that happened, but.

Apparently, I'm going to be training with Konoha's Yellow Flash at least occasionally from now on?

"Nice to meet you, Etsuko-chan," he says, and he seems to mean it. Who knew the legend himself is so nice and approachable.

I bow down to greet my senior. "Nice to meet you, too, Minato-kun. Please take care of me." Aren't I a perfect little Uchiha.

"I'm looking forward to working together," he says, with just enough awkwardness and a shy little smile to make it sound and look endearingly earnest. Even though he, 13-year-old teenager that he is, could have been annoyed at having to look after 5-year-old me.

Ugh. It's just not fair for the rest of us when geniuses are amazingly competent and nice at the same time. I hope that doesn't change with puberty.

Orochimaru chooses this moment to step in. "Minato-kun, your sensei entrusted me with your training for today. I asked him for your usual training routine but the answers he provided were somewhat … sparse. Am I right to deduce that there is no actual methodology to the way he imparts whatever knowledge he has to you?"

"Uh." Minato rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "He has a more … explorative approach to teaching? Yes."

Orochimaru closes his eyes for a moment and pointedly inhales. I'm kind of fascinated by this open display of emotion. Didn't think he'd had it in him.

"Well. You will find none of that here," he announces. "I hope he taught you enough for you to understand the value of what we will be doing here. Do you have any experience with raiton jutsu?"

Minato is looking at him wide-eyed but with full attention. "A little, Orochimaru-sensei. Jiraiya-sensei encouraged me to experiment with all the chakra elements, not just my primary one, so I have tried storing lightning chakra into seals for easier access."

He stored lightning into his seals? Whoa, that's pretty metal. Already into fuuinjutsu, huh?

If Orochimaru is impressed, he doesn't show it. He just nods in acknowledgement and turns to me. "Etsuko-chan, it is time for you to learn your first application of raiton chakra. You will be channelling it into the kusarigama and maintain a consistent flow of electricity."

I give a curt nod. "Hai, sensei." I'm really getting good at this attentive student thing.

"Minato-kun, I assume you have ideas about how to use what you've prepared so far. Now is the time to find ways to use them for battle. At the end of the lesson, both of you will fight against each other with what you have learnt."

Oh fuck, what.

"Hai, sensei," Minato says, fully motivated.

I'm possibly going to die today.

"Begin with your training."

)()()(

The weapon is an extension of yourself. Steer it like you steer your body.

The good news: I have very little problems controlling the flow of my chakra and extending it towards my weapon when nothing else is going on. The not so good news: The advice to think of it as part of my body is kind of a tall order for someone who's still in the process of learning how to best coordinate said body.

Also, the possibility of dying at Minato's hand today leaves my anxiety levels sky-high. It just seems par for the course, though. One day it's the murder worm, the next it's the Yellow Flash. I will never catch a break and I might as well accept it now.

We'll see how long this rather mature outlook, if I do say so myself, lasts.

The end of training arrives far too early. Orochimaru's face betrays nothing as he tells me to take a breather and prepare myself for sparring and I don't know if that means he's given up on me or if this is a vote of confidence.

I kinda doubt it's the latter.

Minato waves at me, inviting me to join him on the water break. I have no good reason to reject that, so I jog over. He's made himself comfortable on the ground, with seals laid out behind him in a neat row.

"You're really good at using the kusarigama," he says, face as friendly as before and not looking particularly exhausted aside from slightly reddish cheeks.

I bow my head a tiny little bit. "Thank you, Minato-kun. That's kind of you to say, but I still have much to learn." I nod towards the seals behind him. "How did your studies with the raiton fuuinjutsu go?"

"Fairly well! I was actually going to ask for your support, if you don't mind?"

Support? Me? For the Yellow Flash?

"How?" I blurt out.

"Ok, so I had this idea of using the stored raiton chakra as an individualised support line to fall back on in case of chakra exhaustion, for example. Here, let me show you."

He holds out his hand and without thinking, I put mine into his.

In his other hand, he suddenly has a sheet of paper with a prepared seal on it that he slaps onto my palm. It's lines flare up like mini-lightning in a bottle and when my eyes have adjusted again, the characters for my name have appeared in the middle of the seal.

He removes the seal, gently lets go of my hand and turns around to do something to the seals he's laid out behind him. When he's finished, he turns back to me.

"Do you know how to release a fuuinjutsu seal?"

"No," I reply, my curiosity so strong now that I'm not even embarrassed to admit to not knowing the most basic thing.

On the other hand, where was I supposed to learn that? At the academy, where I'd stayed barely long enough to learn about the basics of elemental chakra?

Yeah, fat chance.

Minato also doesn't seem to mind. "Let me show you."

He walks me through a short sequence of hand seals and ends on a release command that has my index and middle finger land on what would be the middle of the seal.

"Like a genjutsu release!" I say out loud.

He smiles. "Exactly. Now try releasing one of these."

He puts one of the seals from behind him in front of me and gives me an encouraging nod.

The moment my fingers touch the paper, I feel a rush of energy pour into my hands and up my arms, accompanied by the tickling feeling of static dancing on my skin. The air smells a little singed.

"Whoa," I let out.

Minato looks excited. "Etsuko-chan, try releasing the chakra!"

I take a step back, pull out the kusarigama and after some whirling of the weighted end, infuse the weapon with a mix of my own raiton chakra and the bonus I got from Minato's seal.

Immediately, the static in the air grows to an audible hum, punctuated by the cackle of the metal overloading and releasing bursts of electricity into the air. Bits of metal just lying around or not being firmly anchored somewhere, like the kunai and shuriken on our belts, fly to stick on the kusarigama with resounding clangs.

What really changes things however, is how it makes me feel.

Whatever was preventing me from feeling the weapon as an extension of myself has been pushed over the edge, making the flow of chakra complete and circular and for me to manipulate.

I have become an electromagnet.

And then, because I can, I also activate my Sharingan, making me capable of seeing the electromagnetic field that I am creating. I play around with the current, changing the poles just to see what happens, and am absolutely delighted by what it does to the kunai and shuriken in the immediate vicinity.

If I practice this, there's bound to be some cool use case I can channel this into.

At some point, my chakra fizzles out and I shut off my Sharingan.

Minato looks at me expectantly, his excitement barely concealed. "And? How did you feel?"

I don't see why I would need to contain mine. "Amazing! Minato-kun, this opens up so many possibilities! For me and in general!"

He smiles happily, his eyes closing into little half-moons. "I'm very glad to hear that. Would you be willing to help me refine this technique in the future, Etsuko-chan?"

Oooooh.

So this is how a social-savvy person does it.

I grin brightly. "Sure, this one and others, as long as I am capable of helping!"

"And now fight!" a random voice yells.

I turn to look in the direction of where that came from and realise with a start that we've garnered quite an audience at the edge of the training field. A small group of people unknown to me, all of them shinobi, has gathered to watch. The one who was yelling is a boy not more than 10 years older than me, and judging by the way he's eagerly leaning on to one of the wooden posts, he's here for a show.

"Those your fans?" I ask Minato.

He shrugs quizzically. "Can't say I know any of them, sorry. Maybe they're here for your sensei?"

That reminds me.

Where is Orochimaru?

)()()( )()()(

The plan had been for the two of them to fight and for his student to either understand the distance she still had to cover until she wasn't at acute risk of dying anymore every time she left Konoha–or to once again push her far enough to activate her Mangekyou Sharingan.

This … collaboration had never been part of it, though the results, he had to admit, were intriguing. It was worth observing at least.

Having seen enough for today, he strode toward the gawking bunch. They shrank together upon his nearing.

"Leave," he said.

They scrambled faster than Etsuko had before the worm.

It seldom took him more than a word to make people leave.

)()()( )()()(

"Missed you, Nee-chan," Obito says, cuddled into my arms and looking up at me at the end of the day.

Aw, man.

I give him a peck on his cheek. "Missed you too, Obi. How was your day?"

"I went to play with Kashi-chan and Nagato and Yahiko and Konan," he says but a small pout has formed.

I hug him a little tighter. "Did something happen?"

"No," he replies, but he sounds unsure. He burrows deeper into the hug and I wait. It's silent for long enough that I start wondering if he does need another nudge, but then, voice muffled, he says "Toshiro said something mean about the others."

"Toshiro?" I admit, I'm too surprised to be mad. "What did he say?"

"He said I shouldn't spend so much time with nobodies." Obito sniffles and looks up at me again, his big eyes shiny and brimming with righteous anger. "They're not nobodies! They're friends!"

"That's right, Obito." To say I'm a little proud is an understatement. "As long as you know it and don't let yourself be swayed, that's the most important thing."

"But he shouldn't say those things!"

"No he shouldn't. Maybe he will learn it some day."

"He better learn it soon. Even I know that!"

I have to suppress a little snort at that.

Too cute.

)()()(

I wake up in the middle of the night with the distinct feeling of a foreign presence nearby.

I slip on a shirt and trousers and move through the house, stepping outside. It's a chilly night, the moon shining clear and bright and easily revealing a shadow darting around the corner.

We're in the middle of the Uchiha compound. Nobody would be so stupid as to try something heinous here, right?

Except for Itachi, who hasn't been born yet.

I activate my Sharingan.

And I follow the shadow.

The shadow has been waiting for me, standing still and anonymous with an ANBU-mask on their face.

Story:	Follow Favorite
Author:	Follow Favorite