Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 47.2 (Patreon)

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.