Puppet Master
of the
Monstrous MarionettesIn the village hidden in the leaves, it has been five years since the great demon fox, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked and was defeated by the Fourth Hokage.
Normally it was a very happy place…but not today. It was just after sunset and two people were in one of the villages' hospital rooms. One was small and lying in a hospital bed, while the other was standing near the bed, looking out the window.
The Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village sighed as he looked out the window of the all-too-familiar hospital room.
The reason…
It was the fact that, a few feet away from him, a sweet, kind, energetic boy who longed to be excepted and dreamed of being a ninja, and eventually Hokage…was lying in a hospital bed…without his arms from just before the shoulders down, and his legs from under his kneecaps down.
He was wrapped in bandages and had several IV's stuck in him to keep him numbed and alive.
The old man had never felt like such a failure. He had listened to Naruto shouting about his dream of being the greatest ninja of all time…and now his dreams would never be fulfilled.
Sarutobi remembered when he'd gotten the report earlier from one of his anbu who had come from Ibiki after he'd…'interrogated' one of the offenders.
It seems that a few of the villagers had gotten drunk and went looking for the boy and somehow met up with some equally drunk ninja and had joined together.
The large mob had found Narutos' apartment and busted in to 'get rid of the demon' as they put it.
They had beaten, stabbed, and cut Naruto severely before a couple of older ninja pulled out their old ninja-to short swords and…cut the poor boys limbs off.
Naruto had been found ten minutes later after most of the village heard his screams of pain.
Sarutobi looked at the sleeping boy and let a small tear fall from his eyes. So many questions plagued the old Hokage.
Had Naruto been mentally damaged by his village torturing and maiming him? Would he be mentally damaged when he awoke? Would he awaken at all?
It was these thoughts that tore at the old mans' heart as he sat next to Narutos' bed and waited. He told his secretary to bring all his paperwork to Narutos' hospital room. He wouldn't leave. He had to be there when Naruto woke up to apologize for the villagers and…to be the one to break the bad news about the end of his dreams to him.
Deep in his mind, Naruto sat before a large cage in what appeared to be a sewer.
He had seen the face of the huge fox behind the bars, and normally would be screaming or yelling about it…but wasn't.
He just…sat there. His face was looking towards the floor…but held no emotion. No fear, no sadness, juts…a blank expression.
It had finally happened. Naruto Uzumaki…had broke.
The fox, normally a selfish creature, was surprised and…regretful.
The fox had planned on the first time meeting its' living prison to be filled with it using its' fearsome power and gaze to make the constantly foolish boy tremble before it. But now, it just felt…responsible for the poor human.
It was obvious what had happened. That last attack on the boy had shown him he would never be respected or acknowledged. Also, with the loss of his limbs, his dreams and any chance at any career, let alone a ninja, was pretty much scattered to the wind.
The boy actually very smart, he just realized that acting dumb makes for a less desired target. But now, without the hopes of acceptance and the recent attack shooting a huge hole in his reasoning, the boy has let his true intelligence out and his mind is trying to come to terms with everything.
The Kyuubi also realized that, with the boy in this state of mental and physical weakness, he, as well as the Kyuubi, was basically helpless.
That, along with this new sense of regret and responsibility, the Kyuubi could not stand.
After a few minutes of deep thought, the Kyuubi had a spark of inspiration. Of course! It was the perfect solution!
The great fox looked down at the boy. "Human."
Naruto didn't respond.
"Rooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrr!" The huge demon roared.
Still, Naruto didn't move.
The Kyuubi grew worried and finally sighed. "Naruto?"
At that simple word, with the slight hint of kindness and concern, Naruto had a small amount of life return to his eyes and looked up at the fox.
Seeing that the boy was listening, the Kyuubi spoke. "Naruto, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The greatest of the tailed demon lords and…the reason for your current pain." More sorrow escaped the Kyuubis' voice than it had meant. What was going on? The Kyuubi wasn't supposed to feel sorrow for anything it did…right?
Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "So…you're sealed inside me…huh?" He said with a sad voice.
"Yes. I'm glad to see you're smarter than I thought. Well, since you probably want to yell and rage about it, go ahead. I'll wait until you're done to get to what I want to say." The Kyuubi then crossed its' paws before it and rested its' head on them.
Naruto took a few minutes, but shook his head. "I've seen ninja seal things into scrolls, so I have a general idea of how you're in me. I know I'm not you…but I guess the villagers are less observant." That surprised the fox. Smart or not, no five-year-old should be able to think that logically…well, except maybe an Aburame, but that was due to upbringing and the tendency to act like the bugs they housed.
Naruto then continued. "I guess I could ask why you attacked the village, but I suppose if you want to tell me, you will." The boy then looked sad and a few tears fell down his face in the first real show of emotion he'd had since he came into his mind. "What do I do now?" He asked as he pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "I want to be a ninja…but how can I without any arms or legs?"
Kyuubi smirked. "Boy, do you not know whom you are sitting before? I have lived long enough to learn many things. I may know only a few jutsu, but I know more about chakra control and chakra manipulation than anyone."
Naruto looked up at Kyuubi. "How does chakra control help me?" He wondered.
"Simple. In the land my fellow tailed demon, the demon Ichibi, Shukaku, the ninja there have developed a ninja art or…puppetry." The fox said with a superior smirk.
"Puppetry?" Naruto thought for a moment. "They fight with puppets?"
Kyuubi nodded. "Yes. They turn their chakra into chakra strings and use them to attach to their puppets and control them. With this, they can command many form of almost any shape to fight and protect them. Some puppet users even replace their arms and legs with puppet parts so they always have a weapon with them where ever they go."
Kyuubi watched as the wheels in Narutos' head turned and realization hit. He jumped up and cheered. He still had his limbs in his mind, so he could still dance.
When Naruto finally calmed down, he stood before the fox with a huge smile on his face. "So, how do I learn this and when can I get my new arms and legs?"
The fox sighed. "Naruto, this will be very hard, especially because, due to my being sealed inside you, your chakra control will be very poor." Naruto seemed to sadden at that. "But, with enough work and patience, I can teach you a new way of doing this that will make you the envy of every puppet master in the world today. All I need you to do is tell the old Hokage that, since I don't want a weak container, I'll give you the knowledge of how to perform the ninja puppet arts to get your mobility back, but you will have to have the old man get you a place to study by yourself for a few years and bring you a lot of special chakra wood from chakra supplemented trees normally used to make chakra paper, a lot of chakra conductive metal, many tools, and a forge. I will teach you how to make everything in your mind and then you'll try it out. I believe, with enough work, you'll be done by the time the gennin exams arrive for your class. But Naruto, remember not to tell anyone about your skills or how they are done. Just say they are clan secrets and leave it at that.
Also, I have three conditions to this gift I will bestow upon you."
Naruto grew suspicious. "What are they?" He asked as he crossed his arms.
"First, I was somehow put under a powerful genjutsu by a man with sharingan eyes and he made me attack the village. If you ever find him…kill him. Second, I want you to take crap from no one. Act as smart as you are and don't bow to the villages' wishes like a sheep. They broke your trust in them, now make them pay for it. Be kind to those who are precious to you, but treat everyone else like they deserve. Lastly, I want you to…find and help the other demon containers for the other eight tailed demons. I don't know what…but I can feel someone is out to trap us all and…do something with us. I'm not sure what, but if it requires all of us together…it can't be good." The fox said in a serious tone.
Naruto thought about these terms and…agreed. They were relatively reasonable and do-able. "Okay, 'ill get the stuff you asked for from the old man. Then, I want to learn everything I can about it and make those idiot villagers sorry they messed with me!"
Kyuubi laughed. "I think we're going to get along just fine…kit."
It was five in the morning when the Third Hokage was awoken by the sound of Naruto calling to him.
The old man snapped awake and looked around before finally setting his gaze on Naruto
He smiled sadly before pulling together the mental courage to tell the poor boy the bad news.
"Good morning Naruto." He would have asked how Naruto was feeling, but considering he was missing his arms and legs, that would be a pretty stupid thing to do.
Instead of the cold detached face and voice or the sad, angry, hysterical one the old man was expecting…Naruto smiled brightly at the old man.
"Hey old man!" He said with a happy smile.
This confused Sarutobi and he sadly thought that the boy must not have noticed or remembered his loss of limb.
"Naruto, there is something I must tell you. Last night, before you passed out…" He was struggling with the right words to say it.
"I know, Hokage-sama." Naruto said looking down.
That threw the Third Hokage for a loop. Naruto had never before used any form of respectful suffix to…anyone.
"Naruto…I-" Sarutobi was cut off by Naruto looking up at him and smiling.
"Don't worry old man. I have some interesting things to tell you and…a way to regain all that I've lost and more." Naruto said with a confident smirk.
This caused Sarutobi to raise his eyebrow at that. "Oh, do tell."
So for the next several hours, the Hokage told everyone not to disturb him or the boy and Naruto told the old man, whom he considered a grandfather, everything he'd found out and been told by the fox. The old man sighed and told Naruto how sorry he was and why he didn't tell him before and about the law in place. Naruto asked the old man about getting a new home away from the villages' prying eyes and the councils' hateful gaze. Naruto had long known that it was certain members of the council that hounded him and caused him not to be adopted by some of the ninja clan heads on the ninja half of the council. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi asked if he felt the fox could be trusted and Naruto told the old man why the fox attacked and what he had proposed. Sarutobi nodded and agreed to give the boy a wooden house, that would be erected by a certain wood style user in anbu, based on Narutos' plans. Naruto detailed how he wanted the house to be built, number of rooms and design and all. The Hokage would have plumbers install the water and sewage system after the house was built and he'd also have furniture and basic things like blankets, pillows, a refrigerator and a stove with an oven. He'd also have a large forge built in the huge basement workshop Naruto had detailed and promised to, as a birthday present, buy Naruto several sets of basic and even a few advanced puppet parts from the hidden sand village. Though the puppetry jutsu arts and chakra string training techniques were a hidden secret, they sold many puppets of fine quality to entertainers, retired sand shinobi who left for other lands and took an oath not to teach the technique. The old man would simply say that he had a desire to show the battle puppets to some gennin in the academy for a school presentation on the various kinds of jutsu and ninja skills there were in the world.
The materials and tools would be easy enough to buy from stores and merchants under the guise of knowing a weapons smith who wanted to try new weapon design techniques.
It wasn't too far from the truth, and it would keep the council from interfering since the old man would be paying for all this himself.
Naruto was happy and asked about getting a surgery done to make the areas where his limbs used to be ready for puppet part attachment.
That posed a problem, but not one Sarutobi couldn't handle. He could ask the few trusted surgeons and doctors to help him since, unlike many in the hospital, they were loyal to the Hokage, not the council, and saw they boy as a boy and a hero for his burden.
With all that settled, Sarutobi allowed the very doctors he'd been thinking of come in and examine the boy and told them of his idea to help Naruto walk again, saying it was his idea and not the fox's so as not to alarm them.
When the Hokage finally left with the doctors and nurses, Naruto lay back on his bed and smiled. Soon, he'd be back…and he would be better than ever.
It has been four weeks since Narutos'…incident, and everything has worked out very well. Sarutobi has managed to acquire the puppet parts and the design scroll that come with it for maintenance purposes. The house was finished, and was really the size of a small mansion. It looked simple from the ground up, looking like a four post two level house. But, beneath the surface, it had a huge two level basement with a forge and workshop in the bottom with a chimney for the heat and smoke, and above that was a level for scrolls, a small training room, and a workbench where Naruto could put seals on his creations. He'd received a book on seals from the old man since the sand puppet masters used seals to hide traps and weapons all over their creations.
The basic puppet he'd received looked like a blank, male, bald, human shaped puppet that had many joints, ball and socket parts, and hinges that enabled it to move like a normal human. The face had the basic outlines of where the forehead, chin, nose, eyes, and mouth should be, but had no details to give any expressions or anything other than a blank looking face to it. It also came with a few basic weapons to install in various places on the puppet and had some three basic weapons to choose from for the puppet to carry and wield. A regular katana, along with a club that was essentially am octagonal cylinder shaped piece of steel that was four feet long with a one foot handle and had spikes spaced at an inch apart all the way down to the handle on each side with one huge, retractable spike on top so you could choose to either stab someone or just thrust at them with a flat surface. The handle was wrapped in white cloth and had a ring on the end opposite the club.
The last weapon was a curved dagger with a black blade and a cloth wrapped handle.
Also, with the puppet, came an assortment of spare puppet parts of various sizes, shapes, and materials.
Using a torso from one of the puppets and its' design scroll, The Third Hokage managed to create designs for four connection points for Narutos' new limbs. The surgery was done in the second week, a few days after the puppet parts had arrived, and had been a success. Naruto now had metal ports attached to the area his shoulders used to be that allowed for many parts to be placed in them interchangeably. The same was made for his knees. Naruto now had a pair of basic arms from hands to shoulder and feet from toes and soles to the knees.
While Naruto was out, during the surgery, Kyuubi had taught Naruto, as he had been doing for the past two weeks, how to manipulate chakra while his reserves were still small, thanks to his age, and make rudimentary chakra strings. Naruto could do it and move the mental puppets, made by Naruto from his memories of the real one and Kyuubi adding limits and restrictions on movement to make it realistic, and had managed to make it move in a sloppy walking fashion. Kyuubi told Naruto that, if he wanted to move freely and fluently, he'd need to make some special limbs with seals to mimic chakra pathways naturally and also to try and rig up a small blood flow valve for if he ever signed a summoning contract.
When Naruto had awoken, he tried to stand up…and fell on the ground in pain. The Kyuubi had healed much of his surgery pain…but some still remained.
After being helped up and escorted to his house, by the old Hokage, Naruto had spent a week training to use his new limbs. It had taken another week and a half, but he could now walk and grasp things…if a little shakily and with no grip strength control to speak of. He had to ask quite a few times for the old man to get him new dishes or to have Ichiraku bring him food to his new house since he couldn't walk any real distance yet and didn't want the villagers to see a weak target to vent their hate on.
Now, four weeks after losing his old limbs and two weeks after gaining his new ones, Naruto was training hard. He could position his fake arms and channel chakra into them to send chakra strings to his 'blank' puppet to make it walk a little and could even make it bring things to him, but still didn't have the fine control for picking up paper from a desk or sending the puppet any real distance away from him after six feet. He didn't even try to use it to pick up any of the three weapons, due to the Hokages' and Kyuubis' suggestions.
Naruto knew it would be a long time before he could walk and move normally and an even longer time before he could move well enough to make new, better performing limbs for himself. But, he wouldn't quit and vowed to master his new art before the gennin exams.
And, as he was able to move longer and farther each day, even if by inches and seconds, the old Hokage thought…he just might.
It has been four years since Naruto gained his puppet limbs, and he has grown more than the old Hokage could have hoped for.
In his first year, Naruto mastered his new limbs and was able to run at an even pace for a few miles by the end of the year, as long as he took a break since he was still five at the time. He could hold most things and even write. It was sloppy at first, but improved greatly.
In his second year, Naruto began studying the designs of his arms and limb connection points. He noticed that his shoulder connectors attached into his shoulder blades on his back. Naruto got an idea for a new set of limbs that, with a little tweaking of the old connectors, would make him a surprising and very happy ninja.
He also noticed that he didn't feel anything when he picked things up…which is why he didn't know he was burning his hand on the stove when he tried to make breakfast one morning until he smelled the smoke coming off it. He promised to try and find a way around that problem later.
He drew up his ideas as best he could and stored them away for later. At the Hokages' request, he practiced chakra control exercises with his new limbs. He tried to tree walk…but it took weeks before he could get half way up the tree. He didn't master it until the end of his first year with his new limbs. He did do very well with the leaf sticking exercise and attached more and more leaves until he moved onto small stones and then one pound metal bars, which incidentally helped with his physical conditioning. He could only hold two or three weight bars for a few minutes, but it was a start.
During the second year, Naruto had begun his instruction by the Kyuubi in the art of blacksmithing, forging, and woodwork.
Let's just say, it was good Naruto couldn't feel his hands or feet yet, since he burned, cut, and dropped more things on them than a normal hand could ever survive.
But, through force of will and determination, he had it down to a reasonable level by the end of his second year. He had also started customizing his 'blank' puppet.
He put black shinobi pants on it and wrapped its' hands and feet in white, cloth bandages so everything from his toes to his knees and his fingertips to his elbow was covered. He then put a black battle kimono with white trim and a red, cloth belt tied around its' waist. Naruto screwed in two silver screws into the blank looking eye area and Naruto painted the mouth area into an impassive, nearly straight but slightly curved upward mouth to it. Naruto also glued a wig of long, black hair that hung loosely down around the puppets neck, but pulled back from the face. For the finishing touches, Naruto gave it black shinobi sandals and armed it with the katana and dagger that had come with it.
The club with the retractable spike at the tip Naruto kept for himself. He wore it on his back in a special thick leather sheath that had a seal on it to resist wear and tear from the clubs' spikes and to keep the straps that went from Narutos' left hip to his right shoulder from breaking. Another seal, that the old Hokage had placed on the club and sheath, was that when Naruto took hold of the clubs' handle, he had to channel chakra into it so that the sheath would pop open and release the club effortlessly. The seal would also only let Naruto pull it out of the sheath.
Naruto had practiced with his newly customized puppet and could only make it walk shakily at first using all ten digits on his hands. But, three months before the end of the year, he had it down to one finger and he could make the puppet move like a living person and control him from up to fifteen feet away.
Naruto had named the puppet…Screw eyes. Not terribly imaginative, but it fit. Naruto had also started learning about seals in greater depth from Kyuubi and the Hokage in the last three months of his second year.
In his third year, Naruto was able to make small, simple seals including storage seals, chakra signature seals, blood seals, chakra weight seals, and was trying to learn about genjutsu seals since genjutsu was, as Kyuubi informed him, well beyond his ability since genjutsu required subtlety and near perfect control that Naruto would never really have, thought he could detect and dispel genjutsu, he couldn't create it. Naruto was hoping to overcome that with his puppets through seals.
Naruto also started building new puppets from parts he himself had built. He wouldn't let the old man see any of them until they were finished and would refuse to let him see the failures and rejects since he was slightly embarrassed by them. Finally, Naruto had managed o build a nearly exact replica of Screw Eyes, as he originally was when Naruto had gotten him. The old man was impressed. He asked what Naruto would build next, but Naruto just shook his head and told the old man he had a few ideas, but wouldn't spoil the surprise until he saw if he could make them reality or not. The old man chuckled and nodded as he left Naruto to his work. Naruto made several more of "the blanks" as he called them and, with help from the old man by buying the clothing he needed, made them all look like maids and butlers. He had started getting good with crafting female looking puppets, but they still looked like 'blanks' just with female curve outlines and a few hidden blades and other weapons hidden in their limbs and heads.
The old man had asked what Naruto wanted them to look like servants for and Naruto had responded that he wanted to learn to control multiple puppets at once and using them to do work while he sat in the center of a room in his house would help with that.
Naruto also started training very hard with his club and upped his weights so now, with all the weight on his limbs and torso, he now had an extra fifty pounds on him.
In his forth year, Naruto made some real breakthroughs. He'd finally perfected the genjutsu seals and gave them to each of his puppets. He made all the butlers in their suits look like the same average man with short, brown hair, an impassive look on their faces, black eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He made the maids in maid uniforms have shoulder length black hair, honey colored eyes, pale skin, and a warm smile constantly on their faces.
He could control seven at once now, but had to see what they were doing to control them without breaking or knocking over anything.
Naruto had also asked the old man about his new designs to his connectors and the old man approved. Naruto had the new connectors finished and the Hokage had he same nurses and doctor who performed the surgery before attach it.
When Naruto had awoken the next day, his arms and legs felt better, easier to move. Naruto had used a mirror to see the two indentions on the back of the connectors where they were attached over the shoulder blades. The old man had asked about them, but Naruto had said it was all part of a big surprise he had in mind later that would knock the old mans' socks off.
Not sure what Naruto was planning, but curious none-the-less, the old man just nodded and said he'd be waiting to see it.
When Naruto had gotten home after the surgery, he had immediately removed his arms and legs and attached his new ones. He had worked with Kyuubi for months in their design and now…they were ready. They could still be moved like the old ones, but that was more as an emergency plan.
After Naruto had attached them, he had used his control technique and walked to his doors and locked them before going up to his bedroom, locking the door, and settling in for a nice nap. Kyuubi had promised to show him a great jutsu that would put every other puppet master to shame and would give him far greater mobility and control over his new limbs.
As Naruto closed his eyes, he couldn't wait for his lesson. Ironically, it was this excitement that kept him awake for an hour before he finally went to sleep, and entered his mind where he found a grinning Kyuubi.
"About time kit." The great fox had grown fond of the boy and now called him kit since he sort of saw Naruto as the son he never had. "Now, let's get started."
Naruto grinned and was nearly about to jump like a kid in a candy store, but controlled himself…and waited for his sensei's instructions.
"This art is the same one that inspired the art of ninja puppetry. It is also the key factor in a jutsu known as shadow clone. This jutsu is how we tailed demons can create an army of warriors from the elements to fight for us. It is the power ecto-plasti." Kyuubi said with a smirk.
"Ecto…Plasti? What is that?" Naruto asked.
"It is where you convert your chakra into a form of living ecto-plasm and make it flow into something. This can usually only be done to machines, and things that are either living or dead. With enough skill, power, and practice, you can bring back the dead for as long as you want, provided they died recently and their brain hasn't deteriorated too much. It is this skill that has made the Nibi no Nekomata, the two tailed cat, famous since she can use this art to bring an army of skeletons to life to serve her." Kyuubi chuckled at the awed look Naruto was giving off. "I know it sounds impressive, but it is also very difficult to lean and uses some hand-signs that most ninja don't know. The basis of this technique is that it gives whatever you put the chakra ecto plasm in is granted a form of life. It is fed by your own chakra and uses it as a substitute for actual life force and soul." Then Kyuubi leaned down and whispered conspiratorially. "This technique can even be used to keep someone near death alive until you can get medical help. This could save any friends, family, and comrades you may have in the future."
Naruto was floored by the implications of the technique. "Please, teach me." He pleaded.
Kyuubi chuckled. "Alright, the hand-signs are simple, but must be done with great concentration until it becomes second nature to you. Eventually, with enough practice, you will be able to mold the chakra like this by thought alone. But, that is a ways off still. The sequence is: Snake, Rat, Dragon, Rat, Monkey, and…Phantom. The last hand-sign is made like this…" Kyuubi then sent some of if its' chakra out of the cage and molded in the hand-signs formation and Naruto spent the next mental hour practicing until he could do it jut as well as the rest of his hand-signs.
"Good Naruto. Now, I have an idea for your current assortment of puppets that may be of use to you. With chakra storage seals combined with control and recording seals, you could have puppets that work without you around." Kyuubi said.
Naruto was salivating at the thought. "How, how, how?!" He asked.
"Later boy. Later. For now, I want you to find the old monkey of a Hokage and ask him for the shadow clone jutsu. As with genjutsu, your reserves are too large to ever lessen to the amount needed to perform the regular clone jutsu. But, the shadow clone is one normally no one below jounin can perform since it requires large chakra stores. Your condition negates that problem, and mastering shadow clones will help you master the ecto-plasti jutsu." Naruto nodded and said he'd do it.
"Now that we have that settled, it's time to begin mastering your new limbs. I want you to use the ecto-plasti jutsu to fill them up and use them as regular arms and legs. This should be very easy compared to how you were doing it before. Also, test and see if the blood valve you had on the plans for the arms is working. It will be crucial for some seals and jutsu such as blood seals and summoning jutsu. When you have your new limbs down using this jutsu, test it on Screw Eyes." Kyuubi ordered.
Naruto nodded. "Hai, Kyuubi-sensei." Naruto said with a smile as he faded out of his mind.
Kyuubi smiled to. "Good luck…Naruto-kun."
When Naruto awoke, he channeled chakra into his arms and made the chakra strings to move them as he channeled more chakra and did the hand-signs. When he was finished, he called out. "Ecto-plasti jutsu!"
When he was finished, he watched as a mist of pale blue chakra came out of his arms and floated in the air. As Kyuubi had instructed, Naruto will the mist into his limbs and…it obeyed. When the last of the mist had entered his limbs, he released his chakra strings and…stood up. He moved his arms and legs around and even jumped up and down a few times. He could move his arms by will alone now. Deciding to try the new limbs genjutsu seals, Naruto activated them and…they looked like his natural limbs. But, the best part was…he could feel again! He and Kyuubi had worked long and hard to make a seal that would accurately make his mind feel what normal limbs would feel. Naruto…fell to his knees and cried. He felt a small amount of pain as his knees his the wooden floor, but he felt the cold floor, the air moving in from the open window. He touched the floor and felt the grain of the wood. Naruto let the tears flow and laughed.
After he had calmed down, he went over to a rack on the wall of his room that held his puppet storage scrolls. He unsealed Screw Eyes and repeated the jutsu. He guided the ecto-plasm into his first puppet and…watched at it stood on its' own and saluted him before standing at attention.
Naruto laughed before mentally telling the puppet to walk across the room…and it did.
Naruto had it swing its' sword around and also perform hand-signs to test his dexterity.
Naruto knew he had been given a real gem of a jutsu. Kyuubi had told him that the ecto-plasm would last as long as you put more chakra into it. It was how his arms would always work since, as long as he pumped chakra into it, the already existing ecto-plasm would convert it to more ecto-plasm or reenergize the existing ecto-plasm.
Naruto looked at Screw Eyes. He had put the same genjutsu seal he'd used for his servant puppets on him and he looked like a pale skinned man with a black-lipped mouth and black hair. His eyes, when opened, had silver, slitted pupils.
Naruto went back to his scroll rack and unsealed all of his servant puppets. He repeated the ecto-plasti jutsu for all of them…and nearly fainted. The jutsu had him nearly drained and he would have fallen down…had his servant puppets nearby not responded to his thoughts and caught him. They carried his down to the living room and sat him in his chair. Naruto smiled weakly and then mentally ordered each puppet to clean the house, the yard, and bring him a drink of water. As the puppets went off do obey, Naruto thought about how they each felt human when they had held him up and carried him. The genjutsu not only made them look human, but also made them feel real.
Screw Eyes walked up and stood beside Naruto with his arms crossed and covered by his kimonos' sleeves.
When Sarutobi arrived for a visit that day, he was shocked and amazed! There were many men and women in butler and maid outfits running around Narutos' yard and house. He walked up to a maid as she was sweeping the walkway to Narutos' house. Naruto had his house made in the woods atop the Hokage monument so it was quit windy and leaves often did get blown off the trees.
"Excuse me, miss?" The Hokage asked.
The maid looked up at him with her perpetual smile.
"Um…Could I ask why you're here? I don't remember hiring anyone to work here." He asked calmly.
The maid nodded and made a motion for the Hokage to follow her into the house.
The Hokage nodded and followed and came to the living room where Naruto was sitting. The maid pointed towards Naruto and then left.
"Naruto?" The Hokage asked.
Naruto looked up. "Hey old man! How are you?"
"I'm fine. Naruto, who are all these people?" He asked as he eyed Screw Eyes.
Naruto laughed and then told the old man about the new jutsu Kyuubi had taught him and about all his servant puppets. He even told him about his new limbs abilities and that he could keep them all going just by recharging their ecto-plasm.
The Hokage was floored and openly gaped before shaking his head. "I'm getting too old for this stuff." He said. He then looked at Naruto. "Alright Naruto, here are the hand-signs for the shadow clone jutsu." He then demonstrated the technique and Naruto copied its' motions for a few minutes until he had them memorized.
As the Hokage turned to leave, he asked Naruto something. "Naruto, could you tech me this technique. I would love to have something like that around for a few uses."
Naruto nodded and taught the old man the ecto-plasti jutsu and told him he was to practice until he could do it without hand-signs and never teach it to anyone since Naruto was claiming it as a clan jutsu. The old man nodded and then left for the day. One jutsu richer, and with a true smile on his face.
"Naruto, what will you come up with next?" He then had a thought. "Damn, he still hasn't told me what those openings on the back of his connectors were for. Oh well." He then went back to his office and his dreaded paperwork. Since the Uchiha massacre a couple of years ago, it seemed like it had started multiplying faster and faster.
It has been one year since Naruto learned the ecto-plasti jutsu. He has made great advancements. After mastering the jutsu to a certain degree, Kyuubi had told Naruto his idea to make some seals that work together to allow the puppets to work longer and with less supervision. Naruto had used the seal designs and some of his finest chakra wood and metal to create chakra seal cores. They were balls of metal the size of volleyballs with a ring of wood around them. The balls had seals carved into them and could hold up to two weeks worth of chakra that the puppets could tap into to recharge their ecto-plasm. Naruto had also made seals that allowed the puppets to speak. He could only make limited intelligence for the puppets, but it was enough to take orders and learn a little bit.
Naruto had also made a few non-human puppets. He made a monkey puppet that stood three feet tall, two feet while on its' knuckles, and had a four foot long prehensile tail. It was carved out of chakra wood and had an extendable kunai blade in its' tail and a flamethrower in its' mouth. It had a genjutsu seal on it that gave it light red fur over its' tan skin and green eyes. It also had retractable claws for its' fingertips and sharp teeth and fangs in its' mouth. Naruto gave it to the old man and taught him about its' weapons and skills. Sarutobi had been delighted and had performed the ecto-plasti jutsu immediately. Naruto made a smaller core for the monkey and Sarutobi had named it Flame. Now, the Third Hokage could be seen often with the little red monkey on his shoulder.
Naruto had also made a few wolf puppets with sleep dart launchers in their mouths and gave them genjutsu seals to give them silver fur and yellow eyes. Their claws and teeth were silver looking and very sharp. They were ordered to constantly patrol the grounds at night, and take up resting positions during the day. The sunlight sensitive seals on them told them when it was day and night.
Naruto also built a special barn owl puppet to carry message scrolls to the Hokage so Naruto didn't have to wait for him to come and visit. It was pure white with coal black eyes, beak, and talons.
Now, Naruto knew it would be hard to remember when his puppets needed recharging. So, he made a charging station that was a large chakra seal core that could be filled enough to have a years worth of chakra and outfitted all his puppets with a small seal n their backs, hands, shoulders, feet, and chests that, when they touch the charging station with any of those seals, they would be recharged. There were even a few seals on the station that took chakra in the air and pulled it in. Naruto could charge the station anytime, but to fill it up from empty would take seven near exhaustion draining sessions in a row.
Now, ten-year-old Naruto had an interesting decision to make. The Hokage had told him stories of other puppet users and an interesting idea had caught Narutos' attention. Master puppet users made large carrier puppets for them to ride in. Now, this was well in Narutos' ability to do, especially with all the servants and shadow clones that can help him now, but he needed to decide on a form and function design.
He had toyed with a large nine tailed fox…but felt that was pushing things too far at the moment with the village being as anti-Kyuubi as it was.
Naruto finally decided on a Silverback gorilla. It was much bigger than Naruto and opened up from the area of the back that normally had short, silver fur. That area had a silver spiral on it. Naruto gave it black fur and gray skin with a genjutsu seal and placed a silver colored metal armor on its' arms, chest, head, legs, and shoulders. The shoulder forearms and knees had small pyramids of metal with sharp tips on them. It stood eight feet tall on its' hind legs and six foot nine when on its' knuckles. It was very roomy inside and could be conditioned for when Naruto grew taller. It was very comfortable inside and Naruto could operate it like his own body since the periscope seals on a pair of binoculars with a rubber tube connecting them to the gorillas' eyes, and the voice seals that made his voice come out of the gorillas' mouth and make its' face move as Narutos' did gave it a very real, expressive look, sound, and feel. Another advantage Naruto had was that he could perform jutsu without anyone seeing from inside his carrier puppet.
Naruto built it very sturdy and placed chakra density enhancing seals on the armor and inner metals to make them able to handle a good strain. The puppet could even be sealed air tight in case of poison gas bombardment. Naruto had a flamethrower put in the gorillas' mouth and retractable kunai blades in the palms of the gorillas' hands and feet. It also had storage seals put into the gorillas' back so Naruto could summon other puppets behind the carrier puppet for battle. So far, Naruto didn't have any for it, but had placed a few seals there for future use. The gorilla also had a huge metal war hammer that was held to its' back by chakra seals on the puppet and the hammer.
The gorilla had two cores so that Naruto didn't have to keep draining his chakra if he was on a long term mission or drawn out battle. The gorilla could be controlled like his servants, away from Naruto, and had a return seal for when its' chakra seal cores were three quarters empty if Naruto was away. Naruto had to direct its' movements with simple orders if he wanted it to do anything other than stand around and wait for him.
With his servant puppets, guard wolf puppets, messenger owl puppet, and carrier puppet built, Naruto felt like he could now build his main combat puppets.
The old man had sent Flame to give Naruto a scroll with a few jutsu he wanted Naruto to learn. There was the substitution, transformation, water clone, inner decapitation, earth encampment wall, and the whirlwind blades jutsu. Naruto would use shadow clones to practice those since, as Kyuubi had pointed out, he learned everything they did and gained all their experience when they were dispelled.
The old man told him he only had two years before the gennin exams and that Naruto needed to finalize his fighting style before then.
With that in mind, Naruto had upped his weights so he had fifty pounds on his arms and legs and eighty on his chest. He also practiced and became proficient with his spiked club. Naruto had also asked for, and received, a taijutsu scroll for the old man. Sarutobi had given him the scroll for basic taijutsu and Kyuubi had used puppets made in Narutos' mind to teach him the Fox style. It was a style that used powerful, quick strikes and deflecting blocks with evading movements. It required patents and control to use, but was very effective.
For the next two years, Naruto worked on his battle puppets and improving his current ones along with forging a few weapons, and perfecting his battle strategies.
He smiled one day as he fell into his large, comfortable bed. His plans for his advanced limb connectors were nearing completion and his battle puppets were coming along nicely. Soon, he would show the village that what they had tried to destroy, they had made stronger. He felt like the phoenix. He had fallen, only to rise again, stronger then ever.
It is now one year before the gennin exams…and Naruto has been thinking very hard on something. His battle puppets are ready, he has learned and mastered the jutsu Sarutobi gave him, and his personal limb enhancements are fin tuned and operate perfectly, but he has a slight problem.
He…wants to leave.
He has been talking to Kyuubi for a while and has come to the realization that, with the likelihood of everyone telling their children to stay away from him and since he was technically the 'dead last' of the academy, having never entered at all, he would be placed with the rookie of the year and the highest scoring female academy student. Naruto had used his messenger owls' recording seal eye and viewing jutsu to spy on the class and saw that…it would be hell. The rookie of the year was Sasuke Uchiha, the last surviving Uchiha in the leaf village. He was brooding, emo, rude, spoiled, and power hungry so he could get revenge on his brother, a path that would lead him to betray everyone around him.
The top female student, grade wise, was Sakura Haruno. She was book smart…but other than that…she was a waste. She was a devoted Uchiha fan-girl and had no family jutsu to draw on. She also didn't have any experience or desire to train. She did what was expected…and nothing else.
Naruto didn't like that. Knowing the Uchiha loving council, civilians and Danzo, they would assign a jounin with experience in ninjutsu and the sharingan to teach the boy…and leave his teammates out in the cold.
That, Naruto wouldn't stand for.
So, after much thought, Naruto finally decided to talk to the old man. He sent his messenger owl puppet out with a message to come to Narutos' house as soon as possible.
It was seven at night when the old man came and one of the maid puppets showed him in and fetched some tea for him. When Naruto and the old man were comfortable, Naruto told Sarutobi his thoughts and…his desire to leave for a while.
The old man tried to find a good reason against it…but couldn't. The boy was right in his worries. He could defend himself with his puppets and skills. But, before the old man could agree, he decided to make sure.
"Naruto, I will only let you go if you do three things." He said as he set his tea on the coffee table in front of him.
"What is it?" Naruto acted happy most of the time, since he was away from the villages' harsh stares and insults, but had become more serious in matters that called for it.
"Naruto, I want you to go only to places that are either allied or neutral with the leaf village and promise not to start anything that could cause the leaf any…problems." The old man said with a firm stare
Naruto nodded. "Okay, but what are the other two conditions?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I want you to promise to return when called or when you feel like it. I will also, based on your performance in these past few years give you a rank that reflects that. I know you're already high gennin in skill, but I believe you are at least chunnin. Your report of your trip, and a test I will set up when you return, will determine if that rank is deserved, and if you should advance."
Again, Naruto nodded. "The last condition?"
"I want you to come back to train during the chunnin exams. My old student will be back by then and I know he'd love to meet you." The Third Hokage stood up. "If you do all these things, I will give you special, irrevocable travel rights normally only given to sannin and I'll even let you put together a team if you find anyone with talent on your trip."
Naruto nodded one last time before standing. "Old man, I accept."
With that, the old Hokage smiled and left.
Naruto spent the next few days getting ready and finally, after getting all his puppets, gear, sealing scrolls, and equipment, he laid down to sleep. He would leave in the morning. He'd set the daily action seals so that only five or six of his servant puppets and all of his wolf puppets would do their duty to protect and clean the house while he was gone. He's also set up a new idea, a chain of chakra seal cores connected and suspended in an orbit-like fashion around the huge recharge station core so that it would help the core last longer, since Naruto would be gone for a year.
As Naruto drifted off to sleep, he smiled. Maybe…he could find someone besides the old man and the ramen people to…be his friend.
It was four in the morning when Naruto set out. He'd told the Hokage he would the day before, so he told the chunnin guards he'd be sending an ape summons out early that morning. Narutos' carrier looked life-like and a lot like a summons, so it worked. The Hokage also gave Naruto a leaf headband. Now, with his headband tied around his head and all his supplies sealed into a couple of scrolls, he was now leaping from the rooftops in his gorilla carrier puppet.
When he reached the gates, he ran past them. He noticed the chunnin on guard giving him an odd but bored stare. Naruto guessed the lie worked.
As Naruto left the forest of the leaf village, he checked his compass inside the puppet. He was facing west, but he needed to head east. He wanted to head towards rice country since wanted to avoid going to hidden sand. He didn't steal their secrets, but he didn't want to chance them getting his chakra core if they caught him.
It took a week, but he finally made it. It definitely had plenty of rice fields. On the plus side, it allowed him to work on water walking while in his puppet. It was hard, but he did it. One of the big problems of puppet users was always water and sinking. The amount of control for transferred water walking was huge and normally only high jounin and kage level ninja could pull it off. Chakra cores that fueled ecto-plasm negated that problem.
Naruto has stayed away from towns and used the heating and cooling seals in his carrier puppet to keep it at a constant temperature so he slept in it.
It has been a week since Naruto has entered rice country. Nothing has really happened.
He did knock out a few bandits along the road and leave them tied up near towns, but that was it.
Today, however, was going to be…different.
Naruto had heard rumors about something going on with the Fuma clan.
Curious, Naruto headed towards them to check it out.
As he was leaping through the trees, he came upon an interesting site.
It was a red headed girl about his age…but she was surrounded by…strange people. One had two heads…with the same face. One was coming out of the others' back. The second one was fat…with an orange Mohawk. The last, and strangest, was a man with a ponytail…and six arms.
Naruto, engaging the light bending genjutsu seal that helped make Naruto invisible…well, if he moved you could see the distortion, but it was close enough.
He was glad he had the silencing seals on his puppets' feet as he leapt over to another branch, just above the girl.
He listened in.
"Come on Tayuya." The fat one said. "Lord Orochimaru is only going to give you a seal. It will make you stronger." He said in mock kindness.
"Yeah," the two headed one said, "along with 'fixing' your mind so you're loyal to Lord Orochimaru." He said with a sadistic smirk.
"Not helping." The fat one said.
"Come on!" The six armed one yelled. "Let's just take her! She can't stop us!"
The two headed one nodded. "Agreed!" He then lunged for the girl. She wore ragged clothes and looked too weak, or too scared, to move.
Making a snap decision, Naruto, in his puppet, leapt down and stomped the ground before the two headed boy.
Looking basically like an invisible rock, the three boys looked around, trying to see the enemy in the dirt and dust kicked up by the landing.
Facing the two-headed boy, Naruto opened his gorilla puppets mouth and activated the flamethrower. He basically blasted an inferno in the two-headed guys face. He, and the other head, screamed and writhed on the ground.
Before the other tow could act, Naruto reached up and took the huge war hammer of the gorillas' back and slammed it on the fat boys' head…splattering it.
Naruto had no time to contemplate his first kill as he swung the hammer around and slammed it into the six-armed boys' chest, surely breaking a few ribs.
While both surviving boys were writhing in pain, Naruto placed his hammer back on the gorillas' back and retracted his blades. He picked up the girl in one arm and, using the retractable climbing claws in the gorillas' fingertips, climbed up the tree and then leapt away from the place he'd made his first kill.
He looked down and saw the girl had, at some point, fainted.
He ignored it, along with the desire to wretch, and continued leaping away…looking for a safe place to rest.
An hour later, Naruto had set up a tent and a campfire. He placed the girl down on a sleeping bag and rested her head on a pillow. He wetted a washcloth and laid it on her head.
He had left his gorilla puppet and sealed it away, so as not to scare the girl. When he had first exited his puppet…he'd wretched and shed a few tears about his first kill. Kyuubi had told him to think about all the people he would have hurt had Naruto not killed him. That helped, but he still felt like crap.
Naruto then sat across the campfire and looked at the girl. She was very beautiful, if his blush was any indication.
He sighed. "Well, I guess she'll be my first meeting face to face outside the village."
He laid back and looked up at the starry sky and thought. "Wish it could have been a better experience though."