Lotus Of The Leaf ~Book One~

Chapter 43! Raging Emotions

~*****~

A grimace was plastered on my lips as mud and dirt was caked on my face. "You've got to be kidding me." I grumbled while tugging my legs out of the gunk. 'Every time I try and focus my chakra while underground to get at Jiraya's clone, my Kekkei Genkai keeps activating....' I got up, and let out a soft breath, before going at it again. I sunk into the earth below, and moving forward to where the clone was standing. Just before I reach upwards, water burst into the ground and soaks me to the core. I popped out of the earth with a frustrated scream. "Come on! Stupid water!"

Hours passed, and the sun had started to set. "This is crazy! What do I have to do!?" I hear Naruto scream. I pop out of the earth and pull myself up.

"Well, did you two do it?" Jiraya asks, being roused from his nap.

Naruto started to stammer. "Uhhh, well, not quite, but I'm really close. Almost there!" Naruto shouts back.

"I think I got the Hide like a mole down, but every time I try to do the actual head hunter, water comes out from no where and wrecks it." I mutter, crossing my arms over my mud caked chest.

Jiraya just smirks. "Ah, I was hoping for maybe 40 winks, but that was more like 840."

"Come on! How do I do it?" Naruto asks angrily. "How do I get it to burst?!" Naruto screams, turning his back on me. I grasp one of the balloons in pure curiosity, and start to move the water around with my Kekkei Genkai.

"Like I've said before, you won't know how it's done until after you've done it." Jiraya explains just as the balloon in my hand pops. "In your case, even though ideally you're supposed to master this jutsu by yourself though trial and error..." Naruto stepped forward, seeing to have ignored me. "Maybe I'll give you a small hint to point you in the right direction. All right, now get the water in the balloon spinning again." Jiraya started explaining the flow of chakra, and how Naruto was a right rotation type. I was a left rotation type, so this phase is easy.

"How are you able to tell if I'm a right rotating type, or whatever it is?" Naruto asks dumbly. I step forward and tug on his hair a bit. He yelped in pain.

"Your hair. It grows to the right. If your hair grows to the right, you're a right rotation type. If it grows to the left, like mine, you're a left rotation type. It's pretty simple." I explain.

"Huh, if I ever brushed my hair, I'd know that." Naruto says in clarity. I frown.

"You.... don't brush your hair?"

"You get it now?" Jiraya asks over me. "It might help if you set the water in the balloon rotating to the right."

"Man, I never even knew my hair rotated. Forget about which way." Naruto exclaims.

"I think you'll find this is the perfect jutsu for you, Naruto. All it requires is chakra! No complicated hand signs to be mastered. With a little effort, even a slow learner can get this one. I know that you can do it."

"Hey! Who're you calling a slow learner?!" Naruto shrieked. "Are you forgetting who I am?! I'm the guy who's gonna be Hokage someday! I bet you in three days I'll have this whole thing nailed!"

"A bet you say?" I ask, seeing dollar signs.

"Three days?" Jiraya asks. "This jutsu was handed down to us by none other than The Fourth Hokage!" Naruto gasped a little. "Yes, and it took the Fourth Hokage three whole years to perfect it. In terms of difficulty, this is the second hardest jutsu of all. It's one of the master rank ninjutsu. To learn this move requires mastering three different phases of training. The water balloon burst is only the first." Naruto gazed down at the balloon for a moment. "And you, who haven't even finished the first phase yet, you're going to master it in three days, huh? Yeah, right. Knock yourself out, kid. Meanwhile, if it's all the same to you, I'm heading back to town. I've been neglecting my research. It's getting late, you two coming?" Naruto gazed at the balloon.