Guy narrowed his eyes at Adrik.
"I am afraid what you are asking is impossible."
Adrik opened his mouth to say something but Guy put his hand up, cutting the teen off.
"What you want is to learn something in one month that took Lee several to achieve. The Eight Inner Gates is not something you can just master overnight."
Adrik tilted his head down in slight shame as he realized he was asking too much out of the jonin. Guy sighed as he closed his eyes.
"That being said, it's not like I don't want to teach you how, or that you can't learn how. In fact, I am almost positive it would be possible for you to use the Eight Inner Gates as you could most definitely supplement the chakra to open the gates with your Element. This is more of a matter of if I should teach you."
Adrik looked up with his eyebrows raised in confusion.
"We would be neck deep in a territory we are both unfamiliar with. With the incredible toll that the gates take on the body, I fear what would happen if either of us are wrong about even the smallest of details. There are so many factors that play into it that a single unexpected event could be the end of your life."
Adrik's eyes narrowed in determination, surprising Guy.
"I know that. If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked you. I know it wasn't my place to ask anyways, but still. There's so many techniques that I can only do so much to match, people that I can only dream of rivaling. I've been weak for way too long, Guy. If I don't change that, then who will?"
Guy stared down at his student silently.
"Every single serious fight I've been in, I've only survived because of luck. I can only keep being lucky for so long."
Guy sighed again as he looked down in thought.
"Indeed, I have heard about that. Your fight with Zabuza Momochi on your's and Team Seven's first C-Rank mission. Your head was caved in and a strange power that you had no idea of awakened, allowing you to rapidly recover."
Adrik nodded.
"In the Forest of Death, I fought Orochimaru. The only reason I'm alive is because he didn't want me dead."
Guy nodded.
"The Hokage told us jonin of the events in the Forest of Death. You make excellent points, my youthful student, most of which I cannot retort. And for that..."
Guy bowed deeply, surprising Adrik greatly.
"I must apologize. After what happened with Lee, I was concerned that I may have messed up in teaching someone so young such dangerous and life threatening techniques. I see now that I was wrong to feel such a way. I cannot deny the wishes of a determined and hard working young man such as yourself."
Guy stood up straight and gave a thumbs up with a bright smile.
"What kind of Taijutsu Master would I be to not let someone else follow in my craft?"
Adrik grinned slightly. Guy dropped his smile, regaining his serious expression.
"But know that this training will be excruciating to both your mind and body. You will be put through what feels like torture of the worst kind. And know that this training will continue even after this month is over."
Adrik nodded with a determined frown.
"I understand, Guy Sensei. I'll make both you and Lee proud."
X
Naruto wandered the village with his eyes peeled for his target. The old man said his temporary teacher would be near the bathhouses, so he began his search there. The only thing he was told was that this man was the Hokage's own student and that he had been out of the village for quite some time.
Naruto sighed as he figured he may have to check inside the bathhouses as well, at least as much as he felt comfortable with, as the man was probably relaxing there. After all, he sounded like a very hard worker. He wouldn't blame anyone for needing to take a break and relax.
Naruto looked around when he heard girlish giggling. He raised an eyebrow as he looked over at some bushes behind one of the few bathhouses. His eyebrows twitched as he remembered this was the female exclusive bathhouse.
Naruto stomped angrily towards the bushes. If there was one thing he didn't tolerate besides traitors, it was perverts. Let's also ignore the existence of the 'Sexy Jutsu'...
Moving the bushes aside as best as he could, Naruto found a large man with long, spikey, white hair with a giant scroll on his back hunched over and scribbling in a notebook. Thinking of a way to deal with the perverted man peeping through a small hole in the fence, Naruto's face lit up in a malicious grin. He silently used the Transformation Jutsu to turn himself into an average looking girl before running up and kicking the man as high up as he could over the fence.
"Pervert!"
Naruto shouted, hoping his message would get across to the women on the other side of the fence. It seemed Naruto's plan had gone better than expected as the man landed on the other side of the fence, completely at the mercy of the many angry females.
Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he detransformed, listening to the girlish squeals coming from across the fence. He laughed even harder when the man, now sporting what looked like dozens of bruises and bumps, flew back over the fence and landed in a crumpled heap in the middle of the street. Luckily, nobody was around the area.
Naruto walked out from behind the bushes over to the older man.
"Serves you right, you old perv."
Naruto laughed a bit more before looking down at the man. He raised his eyebrows as the man got up, seemingly completely unbothered, and pointed at him.
"So you were the one who ruined my research!"
Naruto stared at the man for a few seconds before shouting back.
"What the hell do you mean research? All you were doing was peeping on some nice ladies enjoying their private time!"
The man grinned perversely.
"Yeah, nice..."
Naruto whacked the man over the head.
"Oh shut up, you old dirtbag!"
The man looked at Naruto angrily as he rubbed at his head above his headband, signifying his status as a ninja. What was strange was that, instead of a village symbol, the word 'Oil' was carved into the metal plate. Naruto pointed at the man with slight confusion.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Jiraiya of the Sannin, would you?"
The man, Jiraiya, smiled proudly as he stuck his chest out and pointed to himself.
"Indeed, I am Jiraiya! But you may have also heard of my other titles, such as..."
The man went up in a puff of smoke. Seconds later, he reappeared, standing on top of a rather embarrassed giant toad.
"The Legendary Sannin, The Master Ladies' Man, The Great Toad Hermit, The Gallant Jiraiya!"
Jiraiya went through several poses as he exclaimed his names with pride. Naruto stared at the man, unamused, which made said man sweatdrop as he was hoping for more of a reaction.
"I'm just gonna go now..."
Naruto nodded and began walking off, not even acknowledging that it was the toad that spoke before it disappeared in a puff of white smoke just as it had arrived. Jiraiya reached out a hand.
"Hey, wait, where are you going, kid?! I thought you wanted to hear more about my awesomeness and glory!"
Naruto grunted as Jiraiya began following after him.
"I'm gonna go ask the old man if he can get someone else to teach me. I'm not gonna be the student of some stupid perverted clown."
With each word said, it was like an arrow piercing Jiraiya's heart. He put the back of his hand to his head dramatically.
"Ah, your words wound me. Do not worry, young man, for you haven't seen anything yet!"
Jiraiya looked back up to see Naruto completely ignoring him.
"Hey, get back here!"
X
Naruto was tired of hearing about the man's escapades. For whatever reason, Jiraiya seemed intent on proving the teen wrong in his assumptions. Naruto tried to get away by going to the training grounds, but that didn't seem to help either.
Naruto stopped with a huff and turned around to face Jiraiya.
"Look, I don't give a rat's ass, you old piece of shit! Just go away, I'll find someone else who can train me. I'm sure there's better, anyways."
Jiraiya crossed his arms as Naruto walked off.
"Are you sure? I don't recall there being anyone else in the village who trained a Hokage."
Naruto snorted as he walked further, nearing the edge of the clearing.
"Yeah? And which one is that? The sixth? The seventh?"
Jiraiya grit his teeth in frustration.
"No, you idiot, I was the guy who trained the Fourth Hokage!"
Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around with wide eyes. Seeing as his words were finally getting through to the teen, Jiraiya continued with a cocky smirk.
"He was my student before he became the Hokage. It's safe to say that he was a step above me, too. I might be a Seal Master, but even I couldn't pull off even half the things he could."
Seeing the pride that comes from boasting about a student that he had both seen and been a part of, Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"So you did train the Fourth Hokage..."
Jiraiya nodded, his smirk growing ever wider.
"That's right, kid! And I'll have you know, he was the best student I could've asked for-"
Jiraiya's eyes widened as he was hit with a punch to the gut that was massively enhanced by chakra, sending him flying and landing on his back. Naruto stood where the man once was, his bangs covering the top half of his face, only the crimson glow of his slitted eyes being visible.
"Then where the hell were you when he died, you piece of shit?!"
Jiraiya's eyes stayed widened as he got back to his feet, cradling his stomach.
"If you were Minato Namikaze's teacher, what the fuck were you doing when he died for this village?!"
Jiraiya squinted at the teen in front of him before he realized who he was talking to.
"Wait... Naruto?"
This seemed to make Naruto angrier as the blonde teen's fingertips sharpened into claws and he bared his elongated fangs.
"You knew about me?"
Jiraiya nodded, growing concerned as the teen seemed to be losing control of his emotions.
"Well, yeah. I knew since the day you were born-"
Jiraiya cut himself off as Naruto sped forward, rearing back a punch that the man blocked with some effort.
"You know who I am and you're just now meetin' me?!"
Jiraiya crouched to avoid a kick aimed at his head before having to block an axe kick.
"What the fuck have you been doing for the past fifteen years of my life?!"
Naruto swiped a clawed hand at Jiraiya, managing to put scratch marks on the metal of his forearm guards.
"Woah, calm down, kid!"
This was the wrong thing to say to an angry teen containing a Tailed Beast. Jiraiya learned this as he was punched in the gut in the same exact spot as before, this time harder than the last one.
"Don't you tell me to fucking calm down, you fucking coward! I haven't seen you once in my life when I needed someone to be there for me!"
Jiraiya recovered before he hit the ground, landing in a crouch. He jumped back to avoid the fist that slammed into the ground.
"This village hasn't done jack shit for me since the day I was born and you pick now to come back and train me?! Where the fuck were you when I was starvin' and on my own?! Where were you when people kicked me to the curb and stomped me into the ground?!"
Jiraiya took a kick to the chin before blocking the claw swipe aimed at his face.
"Where the fuck were you on my birthdays when people chased me through the streets?! Where were you when I was getting beat up in the back alleys with no idea where I even was?!"
Naruto jumped up and bounced off of a tree, rocketing towards Jiraiya and landing a kick to the man's shoulder.
"What the fuck was so important that you couldn't make time to see the son of your fucking prized pupil?!"
Jiraiya blocked another punch aimed at his face followed by a kick to the side.
"Why did you leave me alone of this god damn village?!"
Jiraiya watched as Naruto threw another punch at him. He didn't bother blocking, however, as he saw the punch had no power behind it. Naruto followed it up with another punch that was as weak as the one before it. His eyes faded back to their regular blue color as his more animalistic features receded.
"Why the fuck did you come back now?"
Naruto wasn't even shouting anymore. Jiraiya watched as the teen fell to his knees a sobbing mess.
"God damnit... Why the hell are you even here?"
Jiraiya watched silently as the teen cried. He sighed as he crouched down to the teen's level and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Naruto."
"What?"
Naruto looked up, his teary eyes still holding a hint of anger in them.
"How... How much do you know?"
Naruto wiped his tears as best as he could before responding.
"I know who my parents are... and... and what they left me..."
Jiraiya nodded silently.
"Then, there isn't much I can say. And I feel like an apology wouldn't really cut it, huh?"
Naruto nodded as he looked away, wiping away more tears as he slowly regained his composure.
"I guess I should at least explain myself..."
Naruto looked back at Jiraiya in confusion.
"For the past two decades or so, I've been running a spy ring to help protect the village by gathering information on anyone who may attack us. I was away from the village when the Nine-Tails attacked. I got back as fast as I could, but the damage had already been done. I admit that I was ashamed of myself. And the loss of my student, someone who I saw as my own son... It messed me up. I know it was probably the worst decision I've ever made in my life, but I decided that I couldn't take you with me."
Naruto raised his eyebrows.
"Why not?"
Jiraiya sighed again.
"I just couldn't find a compromise on protecting the village while helping to raise you. Not to mention, if anyone saw you with me, they would instantly know who you were, putting a massive target on your back. With the state I was in, I knew I couldn't help raise you. I thought the old man would do a much better job than I ever could, honestly. And..."
Naruto tilted his head slightly as Jiraiya trailed off. The last of his tears had been wiped away as he listened. He was surprised when the man slapped a paper on the ground and a seal matrix circled them.
"Sorry, that was just for privacy. Listen, Naruto, I need to tell you that there are tons of reasons I wanted to come back here but haven't until now. One of them is that there are some things of greater importance than worrying about an enemy nation."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly.
"Like what?"
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed to convey the seriousness of what he was about to say.
"I'm gonna hit you with a lot here, so just bear with me."
Naruto nodded after a second of silence.
"There are eight other people like you, but you might've known that already, or at least had some idea. From what I've learned, there is an organization that may be after you and those eight others. I don't know what their goal is, but I know they are all dangerous criminals who rival the Kages in power. Not knowing about them would likely be the end of you and this village for all we could tell. In fact, I believe someone like them has already left his mark in the world."
Jiraiya took a second for the shock Naruto was most definitely feeling to wear down.
"On the night of the attack of the Nine-Tailed Fox, there were too many things that didn't add up. Now, a little known fact about female Jinchuriki, which is what we call people who contain the Tailed Beasts, is that their seals will usually weaken during their pregnancy, even coming close to being released when they give birth."
Naruto's eyes widened yet again, something that was becoming far too familiar.
"Is that why the Fox got out?"
Jiraiya shook his head slightly.
"Not exactly. Your parents were both Seal Masters beyond even myself. I have no doubts that your father must have been by your mother's side the entire time, so there should have been no complications."
Naruto spoke as he came to a realization.
"So... You think someone else was there?"
Jiraiya nodded.
"But, he was the Fourth Hokage. He wouldn't let someone just walk in and take the Fox out of my mother, right?"
Jiraiya nodded again.
"But let's say this person was extremely powerful, say... on the level of a Kage, with the mind to match."
Naruto's eyes widened once again.
"You think that guy is one of the guys after people like me? The Jinchuriki?"
Jiraiya nodded yet again.
"Maybe. And that is the reason why I came back."
Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So, that's it? You just wanna train me because they might destroy the village with the Fox?"
Jiraiya shook his head immediately before he let out a small grin.
"Trust me, that's secondary to my reason."
Naruto raised his eyebrows, waiting for the man to continue.
"I thought you were overdue for some training with your godfather."
Naruto's eyes widened once more.
"My... what?"