5,465Old man Sarutobi…was a beast.
Despite how genial and kind the elder Hokage was, that was not at all present during Daiki's training with him. He was given little time to rest and he was drilled from sun up to sun down and beyond.
Taijutsu drills until his limbs ached. Multiple chakra control exercises at once. A new jutsu to learn every single day. And that was just the early morning practice.
From there, they would move on to taijutsu sparring, atop the walls, atop the ceiling, atop the pond within the huge cavernous training room itself. Daiki was given no quarter and no mercy at all. He would fight the old man with pure taijutsu and get his absolute shit kicked in.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's perosnal taijutsu styles were the Monkey Fist, a style his clan learned from the Monkey summons. And the Drunken Monkey, a style he created personally based on that.
But that was not all he used. The Academy Style, The Inuzuka's Beast Claw Style, the Uchiha's Interceptor Style, The Strong Fist, the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist even his own Feather Fist Style and more beyond, Taijutsu Style's belonging to other villages.
The old man slipped between so many different fighting styles, that after five days Daiki had long since lost count.
From there, he would be given a half an hour break to eat and recover. Before being thrown right back into it with running through drills of the jutsu he already knew and what he was in the process of learning.
And then they would spar again, with everything at their disposal. Daiki's at least.
Because the old man never once used a Jutsu Daiki didn't already know, had seen already or was in the process of learning.
And each time, even while they fought, the man would coach him, pointing out his mistakes, give him advice on what he was working on while at the same time beating him black and blue.
Even with his Heavenly Star Seal, even when drawing upon the Lightning Chakra Mode…Daiki never once managed to defeat a single one of the mans Shadow Clones.
And he sent quite a few to train him when he was busy each day. Especially since the last thing on the agenda each night, was to spar with five of his shadow clones at once, each one using a different fighting style.
He lost horribly. Each and every single time.
And Daiki loved every second of it.
Never had he been so beaten, never had he felt so exhausted in all his life. Never before had anyone pushed him to his limits and beyond as much as Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even with his regeneration and Jinchuuriki status, by time the sixth morning of training under the Third Hokage rolled around and Daiki was roused awake in the morning after being literally beat unconscious…his mind was heavy, his body aching with phantom pains from multiple dozens if not hundreds of wounds that had long since healed.
"Ugh…" Daiki rolled over in the rather luxurious, soft king size bed that was present in the living area provided within the training cavern under the Hokage monument, before pushing himself up and out of the bed a moment later.
He had only just awoken, but, he couldn't afford to waste any time of his time at all training under the old man.
He washed in the bathroom the wake himself up, summoned new clothes from his Dimension Force Seal, ate a quick, crappy metal and made his way out into the main training hall.
As he did, he called idly upon his status to check out his progress.
Name: Daiki Yurei
Age: 13
Chakra Capacity: 192,700/192,700 (Low-Tier Kage)
Strength: 204/?
Endurance: 290/?
Durability: 205/?
Agility: 204/?
Taijutsu: 260/500
Ninjutsu: 380/500
Genjutsu: 105/500
Bukijutsu: 180/500
Chakra Control: 317/500
Chakra Affinities:
Lightning - (Expert): The Heavens Spark
Water - (Expert): The Sea Parts Before You
Wind - (Master): The Gale Bows
Earth - (Adept): The Earth Shakes.
Fire - (Novice): Simmering Power
Fuinjutsu - (Advanced): The breath hitches.
'Damn.' he whistled, impressed in spite of himself. The progress he'd made in the last five days, had been nothing short of explosive.
Even for him. Everything had risen by more than twenty five points skill wise, his Taijutsu had outright risen a full fifty and his Genjutsu, even while not learning any new ones, had risen dramatically from how much he'd been force to use it to even stave the old man off for even a second more during the spars they had.
And beyond that, not only had his lightning affinity risen up to the expert level, he'd outright hit the mastery point of the Wind element. Alongside Earth and Fire appearing on his status' as affinities now.
It was kind of ironic that he'd mastered the outright worst element, polar opposite of his first affinity before any else.
'Well, it's not like I've actually been training my lightning affinity all that much lately.' he mused. The increase in ability had risen from Advanced to Expert simply because each day, the old man Hokage would give him a new lightning jutsu to learn and expected him to get them down before he got another more or less.
Honestly, it would have been outright impossible without all his shadow clones training diligently within Isobu's dimension.
But, it was amazing either way...because he now had an affinity for every single element!
A moment later, he dismissed the status screen as he opened the door of the living space and left, entering the training space.
He was not at all surprised to find a familiar old man dressed in his battle gear, casually sitting on a comfortable armchair that looked completely out of place in the training area, nursing a cup of tea.
"Good morning Daiki-kun," Hiruzen greeted him warmly, "You took a whole minute longer to come today, I was almost afraid you were going to boycott training today."
He was teasing, but Daiki snorted anyway, "If it wasn't for Isobu, I might have," he shrugged. Like, he could not stress enough, the old man and his clones literally beat him unconscious every night, even with his absurd vitality and healing, it usually took time to wake up normally from that and Isobu forced him to stay unconscious and rest his mind as long as possible on top of that, "Honestly, it's no wonder the Sannin turned out to be complete monsters if this is how you train your students."
He'd only been at it five days and increased his ability two affinities, gained two new ones, rose up a rank with one and learned literally over ten jutsu. Five lightning, two earth, one wind, the old man's Fire Style: Fire Dragon Missile jutsu with coaching from him.
Hell, the old man had even known the Poison Mist jutsu and helped him get it down in that time as well in-between kicking his ass up and down the cavern.
Sadly, he hadn't managed to get that equipment shadow clones jutsu down yet though.
But yeah, the Sannin trained under old man Sarutobi for years. They would have either become complete monsters under him or died in the process.
Honestly, the older generation of ninja were made of some real tough shit back in the day, he was barely managing to keep going even with his healing abilities.
Hiruzen who was about to raise his cup up to his lips paused and laughed lightly, "Oh Daiki-kun, I'm afraid I didn't train them even closely to as intense as I'm training you, unlike them, we only have a week together for the moment," his eyes twinkled with amusement, "In fact, I was not even planning on training you this hard, but I was forced to escalate because of how quickly you have been progressing and just the sheer amount of endurance you have. If I trained my old students as I did you, I don't think they would have survived long."
"…Huh." Daiki blinked, surprised.
'…No what is there to be surprised about? While they are indeed incredibly powerful and talented, two of them are from civilian backgrounds,' Isobu deadpanned, making himself known for the first time in the day, 'You have me, a literal bijuu and everything going on in that seal of yours on your neck enhancing you, healing you, filling you with energy. Any other human would have long since died from the sheer amount of energy you have exuded in the last few days and if not that, just the sheer amount of injuries would have did.'
Sure, but it was still surprising. But, it was good news at least, it showed he truly was on the right path.
Or maybe he was delirious from one too many head wounds from being beaten unconscious from an utter monster of an old man.
'Eh, you've been fifty one cards shot of a deck since the moment I met you.' Isobu helpfully replied.
Daiki smirked and shrugged off the jibe, turning his attention back to the old man, "Good to know I'm the most badass student you've ever had," he replied, "So, what's on the menu for today? Same as usual?" he questioned, excitement once again filling him at the thought.
Truly, these five days had been a grind paradise.
Honestly, the only bad thing he had to say about it, was that it sucked he hadn't finished his seal to integrate Shisui's Sharingan. If he did, he'd have been able to copy literally every prolific taijutsu style the Leaf Village had to offer from the old man during their spars.
"Actually, we're going to be doing something a little different today," Hiruzen shook his head, "I was initially going to hold off on this until after the Chunin Exams when I would have more time to teach you, but after what I've seen of you the past five days, I believe you may be able to get it down in these last two days."
Huh…well that sucked, he was all for getting more lightning jutsu from the man. With each one he learned after all, he felt his control over the element increase noticeably. Though that might just have to do with the fact the old man had not taught him a single low level technique.
Four of them had been B-rank, while the most powerful of them all, the Lightning Style: Thunder Dragon Tornado had been an A-rank.
And he'd been looking forward to trying to get the equipment shadow clone down as well.
'Oh well.' he shrugged mentally, if the old man specifically wanted to teach it to him, then it must have been something incredible, "Lay it on me old man."
"Confident as always I see, good ,you'll need it for this technique," Hiruzen nodded approvingly, "What I will be teaching you, is a very special technique that only those who have been considered for the Hokage position have been taught and requires a vast amount of chakra to use. So much so, that it requires three others on the level of a kage to use. Not even Kakashi-kun is capable of this technique."
Oh?
The excitement that had dimmed roared to life once more, "Not even Kakashi huh?" he noted eagerly, "So who all from our Village can use it?"
He wanted to see just who exactly he was going to be comparing to here.
"It's a very short list, but if you want to know I suppose there's no harm," Hiruzen mused, "Well of course there is myself, but beyond me there is The Shodaime, the Nidaime and the Yondaime. Of course, you probably won't be surprised that Madara Uchiha learned the technique, or rather helped create it. From there, Sakumo Hatake, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade, my old friend Danzo whom you've spoken to and Kushina Uzumaki. In the history of the Leaf Village only eleven people have mastered this technique, you will be the twelfth."
…Huh, that was a bigger list than he was expecting.
Wait.
Something of what he said just clicked.
"Kushina Uzumaki was a Hokage candidate?" he gaped. That he did not know at all.
Mind…blown.
"Initially, before she gave up the idea in favour of Minato-kun," Hiruzen revealed, "Kushina-chan was a very powerful shinobi, perhaps the greatest seal master this village has ever seen, surpassing even Mito-sama. She had volumes of chakra that surpassed even mine and with her natural bloodline and abilities of being a pure blooded Uzumaki Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi alongside her powerful wind and water jutsu, she was a force to be reckoned with."
Huh, that was interesting to know. While he'd always thought Kushina was a badass, a hot badass that was capable of even holding down the Kyuubi, he hadn't thought she'd been all that much stronger than a Jonin.
But no…according to the old man, she was stronger than Kakashi was. Interesting.
Though, sadly more trivia than anything now since her apparent strength was useless now.
What with her fine ass being a rotting corpse now.
"Neat, guess it's no wonder Naruto has such monstrous amounts of chakra then," he shrugged, as in according to Isobu the guy had like five times the amount of chakra Daiki himself had currently, "So, then what is this technique then?"
"It is called the Four Red Yang Formation," Hiruzen replied, "A technique so great, that when in use, not even the Kyuubi itself would be able to break out of."
Daiki's eyes widened in shock, '…Isn't that the technique the old man and the other previous Hokage used to literally box in the Juubi and no sell it's fucking Bijuudama?'
Now that was a technique worth learning!
'…Quite.' Isobu agreed and Daiki could hear the slight shock in the Bijuu's own tone.
With one hand holding a pen and scrawling away at papers atop his deck, while the other idly drummed his fingers atop the solid sturdy piece created by the first Hokage himself, Hiruzen found temptation beginning to get the better of him.
His eyes flickered towards the crystal ball sat atop a velvet cushion at the edge of his deck, all but beckoning him to peer inside.
It was the only thing in the entire village, perhaps even the world that would allow someone to peer into the depths of the Hokage Monument and see the interior of the training space deep within it.
'I had forgotten…just how much fun it was to teach a student.' the old man smiled wryly to himself.
The past week, had been a rather enjoyable time for him. Imparting what he knew upon young Daiki-kun was exciting and nostalgic all in one.
Spending time with the boy, in such close proximity over the last week…had been like spending time with all three of his students once more. The tenacity and loud mouthed confidence of Jiraiya, the snarky pride backed up by absurd resilience of Tsunade and the sheer clever genius of Orochimaru.
He was not ashamed to admit, his chest ached a little bit as he remembered those days gone by.
'Oh Orochimaru…' he shook his head and suppressed the feeling of melancholy that began to assert itself at the thought of his once most promising student.
The fear the boy, and he would always be that quiet, sad little boy to him had gained upon seeing the fate of his parents had twisted him in all the worst ways.
He was hardly even recognisable as the boy he taught years ago.
But…Daiki was not Orochimaru, not even close. While the talent was there and the greed, the deep hunger for jutsu and a fear the boy did his best to hide under a facade of supreme confidence, the difference was truly as clear as day to him.
Orochimaru could never have allowed a bijuu to have such sway over him, have his life in its hands. He would never allowed something as banal as sexual desire to waylay him from his pursuit of strength. He would never have lost his temper over a fellow shinobi putting their very body at risk using a forbidden jutsu to win a fight.
No, rather Orochimaru who had never been close to anyone outside of their team, would have simply taken the chance to study the Eight Gates in use in front of his very eyes.
Yes, while Daiki had all the best traits of Orochimaru that made him become a monster in the end, they were balanced by the worst traits of Jiraiya that made him the clown everyone once looked down upon, but what let him become the man he was today, a man who's hands he could safely leave the fate of village in should he perish.
…If the man had wanted the position at least.
These days, Jiraiya-kun was stronger than him and even in his prime, he would be hard pressed to defeat his perverted student with even his incomplete senjutsu.
Should he ever manage to master it, Jiraiya would surely have surpassed him at his strongest.
…Speaking of Jiraiya.
Hiruzen placed his pen down and sighed, "Will you stop lurking out there and come in already?" he said aloud, rolling his eyes.
A moment later, the window behind him was slid open and a chuckle echoed out as Jiraiya climbed in, "No hiding from you, huh sensei?" the man grinned at his back, "Sorry sorry, I saw this amazing chick with a massive rack just as I got here, had to take a minute to give her a looksie, total milf material y'know? She'll be perfect for my next book."
"Do try to be creative with your characters names this time, will you?" Hiruzen snorted, "Neither Tsunade nor Kushina ever forgave you for using them as the main heroines of your first two books."
"They were just playing it up, they totally loved it!" Jiraiya merely gave a booming unashamed laugh as he closed the window leaned against it, "In fact, Minato used that to spice up their time in the bedroom, actually, you could say it's thanks to me a certain little someone came about so quickly!"
"…Watching your prized pupil engage in intercourse with his wife, truly I should have had you locked up long ago." Hiruzen shook his head.
"Now now sensei, let's not throw stones in glasses houses eh?" Jiraiya retorted, "We both know you read my book and are eagerly waiting for the next instalment."
"Hmph," Hiruzen did not dignify that with a response, even if his eyes did flicker briefly down to his palm where a certain seal now lay inscribed. A much better hiding place than the old hidden drawer in his desk, "So, what brings you to see me? Shouldn't you be busy training Naruto-kun?"
That was one of the main reasons why he'd recalled the man to the village after all. It was not long ago that Naruto first drew upon the Kyuubi's chakra during his mission to Wave.
He'd wished to keep the boy from interacting with the beast for a long as possible, for when he did, it would be the start of a long difficult time, but was no putting it off any longer.
Naruto-kun, despite his heritage, did not have access to the tools that would allow him to suppress the beast that his mother and Mito-sama did.
And the more he reached into the seal, the more the Kyuubi would be able to reach into him as well.
"That's pretty much why I'm here sensei," Jiraiya shrugged, "He's training against his clones right now, but he's more or less got the hang of the summoning jutsu and pulling on at least a small part of the Kyuubi's chakra, though he still wastes an absurd amount of it when using any jutsu, I'm not a great help on that part though."
…Yes, he was well aware. Chakra control was perhaps his students worst attribute and why he was terrible when it came to using Genjutsu and had been unable to perfect his Sage Mode to this day.
"Chakra control will always be a struggle for the boy as long as the Kyuubi loathes him." Hiruzen pointed out. The fact the boy could use any jutsu at all reliable was a testament to his talent actually. He had many factors working against him.
Even as a baby, Naruto was born with an immense amount of chakra. From the simple fact that he was an Uzumaki, born to a father as powerful as Minato and Kushina, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi alongside being an Uzumaki, nevermind the fact that even as a fetus he was exposed constantly to the beasts chakra, meant he was always destined to stand heads and shoulders above his peers when it came to sheer chakra. And the more chakra one had, the harder it was to control.
But beyond even that, was how his seal worked. It was a beauty of a seal that Hiruzen himself could not replicate half the quality of even if he knew how to perform the seal himself. It siphoned part of the Kyuubi's chakra constantly and filtered it into Naruto's own chakra coils, meaning that not only was his chakra capacity constantly growing, but also always in a state of flux, making it that much harder to control.
And it did not stop there. The Kyuubi's chakra was not only absurdly dense and powerful, but filled with malicious hatred that made it outright corrosive. Not even Mito-sama or Kushina could handle it, which was why they suppressed its power. Naruto on the other hand, had been exposed to the chakra since the very moment he was conceived and was especially attuned to it. It was not a stretch to say, that Naruto was born to be the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.
That did not mean he was immune to the effects of the malicious corrosive hatred within the beasts chakra though. The chakra itself fought tooth and nail against Naruto's own, worsening his control even further.
Yes, Hiruzen could confidently state that if the beast were sealed within himself, when he lacked an ability to suppress its power, he would likely never be able to use jutsu again.
It was a massive double edged sword and by time Naruto-kun reached Hiruzen's own age, should he live that long, the boys chakra would dwarf his own, in fact, dare he say, he might even dwarf that of Hashirama-sama.
And should he ever manage to tame the beast or earn its allegiance like Killer Bee or Daiki-kun himself, he would become unstoppable and may very well surpass the first Hokage and Madara Uchiha themselves.
"Yeah…well, much as we can't help him that much beyond training on that front, we do have somebody who can now, don't we?" Jiraiya replied.
"…Perhaps," Hiruzen pursed his lips, "The situation is rather different in Daiki-kun's case though."
Not only had he saved the Sanbi and earned its friendship, it was a lot more docile than the Kyuubi and vastly weaker. While he had not combatted all the bijuu in his life time, he'd faced off against quite a few and had first hand accounts of them from Hashirama-sama.
According to him, the Kyuubi was so powerful it could have fought all of the other eight bijuu at once…and came out the victor. While all the other bijuu had a variety of abilities, the Kyuubi did not. But what it lacked in versatility, it made up for in sheer raw strength and power.
It was said, that if the Kyuubi had so desired, it could have destroyed the entire planet, such was its power.
"Not saying they aren't, that kid's a perfect jinchuuriki, just from that factor alone he's someone even we can't take lightly in a full on fight even though he's just a brat right now," Jiraiya said, "But, it's weighing heavy on Naruto and that sand kid has him spooked. That kid Daiki might not be able to tell him how to control the Kyuubi's chakra but he can show him how to use it and he can show Naruto that being a Jinchuuriki doesn't have to be something to be ashamed about it."
…That was true. Hiruzen did concede to that point. In fact, Daiki was vastly different from most Jinchuuriki. He in fact relished in what he was, was proud to be the Sanbi Jinchuuriki.
In fact, the boy had referred to himself as the 'Great Lord Sanbi Jinchuuriki-Sama' a few times during their training.
If it weren't for the fact his status was generally being kept a secret from the common populace, the boy would probably boast about his status to anyone and everyone and preach the superiority of being a Jinchuuriki over the common 'pleb'.
And yes, that was the boys own words.
"Where is the kid anyway?" Jiraiya asked, "I know you said you were training him, but I've not seen him at all. Checked his place and everything and hey, did you know that Orochimaru's old super hot apprentice is living at his house right now? And how the hell does a kid like him afford a place like that anyway?"
"I did, they're sleeping together in fact and both will be going on an important mission soon together," Hiruzen snorted, taking a bit of amusement in the way Jiraiya's eyes, "As for how he afforded it, well an A-rank bounty and a best friend who gave him a discount I do believe."
Honestly, the boy fixing Anko's seal and her truly going through with her promise to sleep with him was a true boon right now. Not only did it help her, even strengthen her in fact according to her own testimony, she made for an amazing stopgap to wall of Mei Terumi.
After all, while he trusted Daiki and his character quite implicitly, he could not say the temptation of getting to bed Mei Terumi would not be the highest of temptations. Even he himself may be tempted, never mind a lad as young as Daiki!
A woman such as her was the true bane of young talented shinobi everywhere. It truly was a wonder the woman hadn't manged to snatch a man for herself up and by all accounts he'd been told by his informants…desired marriage.
"You're kidding me, a kid at that age bagged at a hottie older chick like that?" Jiraiya gaped, eyes shining with fervent jealousy, "Seriously, perfect jinchuuriki, the next pick for the hat and a babe like that. It's like he was born to make guys like me feel inadequate, makes me wanna beat him up."
"I wouldn't let him know that, it will just make him preen all the greater," Hiruzen chortled, "Though, she did only go through with sleeping with him because he fixed her Cursed Seal."
"…Wait…what?!" Jiraiya's eyes widened in absolute shock.
…Oh, did he forget tell Jiraiya that?
Oh well, it served him right for always making trouble for him. The amount of times he got complaints about the man peeping was truly annoying.
And here we are boys and girls back again with another chapter and it is the four to the seven! Weeee pee heee!
Anyway we see some progress on the Daiki front and learn what the next big thing he's going to be learning from old man Hokage is and my is it a doozy of a jutsu. And then moving on from that, Jiraiya turns up to speak with the old hat man and asks some shit for the nardo boyo.
We're up to chapter 50 in the Pa-atreon if you wanna read ahead.
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.