The First Magician
Summary: Naruto was born with a unique condition that would forever mark him. His body's chakra coils were fused together into an orb-like structure, which made his chakra too imbalanced to work. Jutsu was forever withheld from him, but this orb-like structure offered a new path for the young Uzumaki, one where reality was forged through his will power.
Chapter One: Will of the Uzumaki
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a long draw from his pipe as he contemplated the future. The day had started out like any other, with him dealing with immense paperwork as usually distributed to him by his ninja.
Except that he'd been informed an hour ago by Naruto's doctor that something was horribly wrong. All shinobi went through check-ups when they began the Academy, to ensure they were physically healthy. Naruto's doctor had done a deep medical scan of Naruto, and was horrified.
Naruto's chakra network had been distorted by the very seal that held back the Kyubbi. While Minato had sealed away the Kyubbi into Naruto under the belief that his chakra coils would grow and eventually absorb the Kyubbi's power permanently, the immense chakra seal utilized had twisted the chakra coils and fused them into an orb-like structure.
The only reason why Naruto was currently alive was that the same seal structure allowed Kyubbi's chakra to bleed into the orb-like coils, strengthening and hardening Naruto's chakra coils from snapping like tense springs and detonating the Uzumaki like a living bomb.
As it was, the fused structure caused Naruto's chakra to form imbalanced, making it almost useless in all jutsu aside from the very basic ones.
The Sandiame had been horrified by the knowledge, but he swore the doctor into secrecy.
Naruto would be allowed to be a ninja, at the very least to give him hope. Whether he'd end up being a Taijutsu specialist was up for grabs, but
Naruto could still be part of the ninja sector.
Naruto Uzumaki was frustrated. After several hours poured into extra practice into getting the Henge right, nothing worked. The air would distort and shimmer, but then fade away into nothing again. What was he doing wrong?
The most he'd been able to do was create a flickering field of energy around him, but it would vanish mere moments afterwards. It was extremely frustrating, and he'd driven himself up the wall trying to accomplish the task.
It was nearing sunset and Naruto's eyes narrowed. He needed to get this finished quickly. As an orphan, he knew very well that no one would miss him if he was kidnapped, and the stories he'd heard had been very stomach-churning for the nine year old.
"One more try." He muttered to himself, his frustration so high that he hadn't even bothered making hand seals before he focused his energy around him, hardening it as he envisioned himself shifting into a log.
The air twisted, as blue wisps solidified into a blue field of energy around Naruto, his eyes snapped shut in concentration as he focused on the image of him shifting into a log. The air quivered as the light blue field darkened, hardening into a solid blue square-like structure. The hardened energy suddenly vanished, pooling back into Naruto with a sharp 'pop'.
Naruto opened his eyes to find himself inside a black, inky, space. There was nothing around him except for a shimmering blue orb in front of him. He tapped the orb, and was surprised to find he was looking down at a log in a training field.
He noted the log was almost... exactly where he used to be. Was he inside a log, looking down at himself?
He willed the log to open up, to reform back into him.
Another small 'pop' occurred, and Naruto found himself blinking as he was right where the log used to be. He succeeded, and he crowed with delight.
He nodded to himself, before he realized the sun was almost done setting, and that meant it was nearing night time. He decided it was best if he pretended to be an adult heading home, this way to avoid the usual glares and potential threats from the villagers.
Within an instant, he was now a brown haired, easily-forgettable, man heading away from the training ground. It was a bit disorienting, seeing himself as a guy walking down the street from above, but it was as if he could will his structure to move as normal, so he easily forgot about the strange sensation.
Once he got back into his apartment, the man shifted into a blob of blue energy that was absorbed into a small black orb in the middle, which revealed to be Naruto as he reformed. He shook off the strange sensation before he began making his usual pot of ramen.
He wouldn't think much of anything about his newfound power until much later.
The rest of the years of the Academy had been a blur, with Naruto struggling to do much else to pass. His Henge was a success, and his Replacement Jutsu was surprisingly much faster than the usual variant, something he chalked up to his practice for many hours on the technique, but his Bunshin Technique was an utter failure.
Much like his first time using the Henge technique, the most he received was a flicker of energy around the air before it faded away rather abruptly. Unlike the times he spent practicing the Henge and Body Replacement, his Bunshin remained an utter failure even as he tried his best for the last three years of the Academy.
Unfortunately, Ninjutsu was a major part of the grading process, and the Bunshin was considered the most important out of the three as it was a major stepping stone to using actual Bunshin variants, as well as extending chakra outside the body. So, while Naruto passed on the skin of his teeth, his standings grade wise were pathetic compared to most, hence coining the nickname 'Eternal Dead-last'.
Naruto stopped caring about his fellow classmates, as he soon found that they carried their parent's prejudices with them. Even the ones, who were kind, were often rather distant as to protect their own social standings. Hanging out with Naruto was surely a way to fail the social aspects of society in the village.
That didn't mean he wasn't socially isolated entirely, though. He was good friends with the Akimichi adults, as well as the Yamanaka Clan as a whole. The problem was that the adults were often busy, missions or otherwise and adult friends were different compared to friends his own age.
His Taijutsu was on the low-average scale, as his usual brawling stance made him unpredictable to most, but the shinobi clan children were trained to keep an eye on weakness to exploit them, so he was below the clans as a whole, especially the Inuzuka and Uchiha duo within his class.
His Shuriken was the best though, as his infused shuriken and kunai were moving to his thoughts rather than using his accuracy. His hands would release his weaponry, where his chakra was somehow able to direct them toward the targets he desired. Iruka once thought it was a bloodline, but Naruto hadn't exhibited anything else that would resemble a known bloodline.
He blinked as he tore his mind from his thoughts, as he heard his name called. "Uzumaki Naruto. You're up."
Naruto's nerves were jumping, but he calmed himself as he walked up to the front. Iruka said calmly.
"Your scores label you as just below the needed criteria to be a Ninja. Thus, the Ninjutsu portion is needed on all three fronts. Body Replacement, you are to switch with me, and then shift into a log for Henge. Bunshin will be the qualification of this test."
Naruto's scowl was immediate, and his eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure if he'd pass, but he'd damn well try!
Mizuki spoke, his voice monotone. "Begin."
Naruto tapped into his chakra, willing it to switch Iruka and himself between positions.
Iruka blinked as he found himself staring at the class as Naruto had swapped positions with him. Iruka wouldn't admit it, but Naruto's Replacement was rather terrifying. A normal Replacement technique would double the speed of the ninja using it, by coating chakra around them to lower friction while replacing them with something else, usually a log.
Naruto's own superior version allowed him to almost instantly switch places with a person, as his apparent chakra was dense enough to increase the speed of the technique.
He turned around to see Naruto become a log. He admired the detail, as the log was very detailed compared to most Henge. The log burst with a blue energy that formed Naruto instantly. He commended Naruto on his work, before commanding him to do the Bunshin.
Naruto's eyes shut as he raised a hand toward the air. Light blue wisps quickly collected into an immense blue energy that flickered in the air, as it began to compress into a dark blue shape. Iruka was surprised by this event.
Was Naruto trying to form his own Bunshin variant as well? While all Bunshin used chakra to form, chakra itself was nigh formless, a liquid/air material that was extremely difficult to mold outside of the body. Elemental Bunshin was difficult, but Bunshin themselves were simply fields of energy that copied the bare-bones of the original self.
Naruto seemed to be trying to form a Pure Chakra Physical Clone, a mixed hybrid technique of the two. The amount of chakra needed for that was terrifying, and Naruto was still forming it!
The dark blue shape hardened further, before it abruptly reversed the process. The dark shape returned into light blue energy that slammed back into Naruto, even as Naruto cursed out quietly in anger.
Iruka sighed, recognizing that Naruto failed the Bunshin. He would go ahead and talk to the Hokage about passing the blonde, but Naruto wouldn't need his hopes up if he said no, regardless.
"Uzumaki Naruto failed. Next."
Naruto's face contorted into a scowl of frustration and fury, before he stalked out of the room.
As Iruka and Mizuki continued to finish up the Genin Exam, they failed to recognize that Naruto hadn't opened the door to leave the classroom.
It had done that on its own.
Naruto was furious. He failed the Genin Exam. He growled as his rage built up, consuming his entire form as he wanted to destroy something.
He looked at the trees and dummies he had set up earlier, and his mind went blank with fury.
His hand twitched as he gathered his chakra around him, releasing it all at once in the form of a thick field. The light blue energy covered the training ground, quickly pooling into a dark blue energy that crackled like lightning as it began to build around Naruto into spiraling shapes of dark blue energy.
The energy ignited, turning deep red as it began to burn away the surrounding area. The energy rippled, the heat exuded from it setting the trees and dummies on fire. The dirt below heated up, compressing into a form of clay from the heat alone.
Naruto alone remained untouched by the scorching heat, his face contorted in blood-boiling rage. His form shivered as the red energy continued to twist and froth all around him, his eyes turning dark red with the pupils in the form of a snake.
He snapped his hand forward toward the dense foliage in front of him, yards away as he commanded darkly.
"Burn."
The energy compressed into a single, large, pulsing red orb of energy that shot forward at a speed that made it look as though it had teleported.
The energy exploded into a bomb of white fire, the intense heat powerful enough that it vaporized the trees and dummies it made direct contact with. The fire flickered in the air, twisting as it began to burn through the trees and even the rocks were quickly heating up and melting.
Naruto's form crumpled in on itself, his face turning dejected as his rage turned into despair and sorrow. He shouldn't have done this.
He wove a hand toward the burning white fire, saying softly. "Extinguish."
The burning white fire still burned, but it slowly shifted, flickering away into ash. He sighed, noting that he had used up most of his chakra.
He quickly turned and left the area, exhausted from the day of failure.
He blinked in surprise when Mizuki appeared on his way home. He nodded in respect to the sensei, as the white-haired man offered an idea that Naruto was fairly skeptical of. A secret Genin Exam? He doubted it, but the idea of a secret exam and a way to pass was too good to pass up on mere doubts.
He quickly shifted into a cat when Mizuki left, and went toward the Hokage tower. He flitted in and out of alleyways, his cat Henge able to see in the fading darkness as easily as if it was mid-day.
He quickly entered the building, his glowing green eyes flickering through the area as he went up the tower. Most shinobi paid the cat no mind, although a couple would shutter and mention something about 'Tora'.
He quickly found himself inside the room Mizuki mentioned, with the Scroll right there. He described its unique designs, being a gold trimming on the outer edge of the grey capsule that contained it. He used his chakra to unwind the cap, having long-since figured out that his chakra could still manipulate objects near him when he willed it, even in a Henge.
He quickly grabbed the Scroll, shrinking it into something he could hide in his 'fur', before recapping the Scroll's now-empty container, and leaving quietly.
He quickly dodged the walking Sandiame, meowing as he left the area. He went toward the Forest, going to outcropping mentioned by Mizuki. Here he would train and learn a jutsu from the scroll. Once learned, he would have passed the secret exam.
He shifted back into himself, as well as reversing the shrunken Scroll into normal size, opening the thing as he began surveying the Scroll's contents.
The first jutsu was known as the Kage Bunshin, a jutsu that created solid clones. He blinked before frowning. He couldn't create Bunshin, no matter how many years of effort he had put in. He decided to try it once, this time using hand seals.
Nothing happened, and Naruto cursed out quietly. He was correct that the Bunshin remained an utter bust.
The next jutsu on the list was known as the Hidden Jutsu: Reincarnation. The jutsu essentially allowed a person to use a Henge indefinitely by taking a person's blood while fusing it with one's own chakra. The Henge would then form and bind to a person's body, creating a Henge that could not be destroyed or removed except upon the death of the User.
Naruto decided to keep that one in mind for recon missions and copied it down on a separate scroll before putting it away. He continued down the list.
The third jutsu caught his interest. It was called the Hidden Jutsu: Metal Reformation. It allowed a person to turn their chakra into bits of metal that could form into weaponry or defensive shields. The only drawback was that it used a lot of chakra, and required an existing source of metal that the chakra could copy attributes from.
Naruto grinned, his eyes lighting up. This was the jutsu he would show. He stood up, ignoring the hand seals it listed, and took out a kunai. He suspended it in the air with his chakra, focusing on it as he willed his chakra form true copies using the metal as a base.
The kunai shimmered, as blue energy surrounded it, before turning dark blue in color. The kunai split into five kunai, before splitting into twenty-five. The number of kunai continued to grow exponentially, until Naruto halted the process quickly.
Over three hundred kunai stood in the air, awaiting his thought commands. This jutsu was awesome, and he barely felt even a dent in his reserves! He compressed the hundreds of kunai, combining and merging their metal components into a single floating orb of black metal. He grinned as he expanded and morphed the metal into a suite of armor.
An idea struck him, and he became too curious to not try it. He turned the metal into a duplicate copy of himself, down to the fine details. He then focused his will onto the armor, willing the metal clone to ignite into life.
He continued to focus, even as he felt his own chakra continue to dwindle into the metal, making it glow slightly. Suddenly, the metal eyes flared, the eyes turning from a metallic black like the rest of the armor, into the same blue and white that matched his own eyes.
Slowly, the rest of the features turned into Naruto, until Naruto was looking at a complete duplicate of himself. Reaching his chakra to connect with the chakra in the clone, he noted that the clone itself felt empty. While the metal had gained attributes that looked like him, the clone itself didn't have any sentience.
He blinked, before realizing something incredible. He willed the clone to move away from him into the forest. As he could somehow see the forest up close, despite being nowhere near trees, Naruto's mind exploded with possibility. He could see through the eyes of his clone, manipulate him like he could his own body.
He was able to move through two bodies, and a body made out of metal that wouldn't get destroyed so easily either. He willed the clone to return, and he held out a hand to the clone. Once he placed his hand on the clone, he began to extract the chakra within the metal. He gathered the metal, began covering his own body with the metal armor.
Once the metal covered him entirely, aside from the nose and mouth so he could breathe, Naruto grinned in success. A clone that allowed him to hide within the metal confines, not to mention being able to move at the speed of thought now that he was encased in a layer of metal forged through his chakra.
He extracted a kunai, having it melt through the armor of metal that looked identical to him, and he lifted in the air to suspend it before he twisted it into an orb that formed a pupil. He focused, etching into the orb a similar will that he had with his clone. The eye gained a blue pupil, and Naruto grinned when he could see through the floating eyeball at himself.
He had the eye fuse with the back his armor, the metal cover hiding the eye from sight, yet still allowing Naruto to see from the back of his head.
He returned to the scroll, and the fourth jutsu also intrigued him a great deal. 'Hidden Mole Jutsu' was a jutsu that bent light around the user, as well as erasing scent to hide them. He, again, ignored the hand signs, as he began focusing.
The Jutsu took a lot more work, and a lot more time. The sun had long since dipped into darkness beyond the horizon, and the forest had darkened as well. He panted as he focused again, his will to shroud himself in chakra that bent light around him.
This time, the light blue energy field turned paler, eventually turning a milky white that covered Naruto before fading away. Naruto released his third eye to look at him, and he grinned when he realized the third eye couldn't see him. Success.
He reabsorbed the third eye into the back of his head, and rolled up the scroll, as he was done for the night. He'd learned two Jutsu, and that should be more than enough to pass.
He blinked when he saw Iruka blazing right at him from behind with his third eye, which wasn't surprising as he'd removed the jutsu that hid his visible form. He turned around as he greeted Iruka.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei. I learned two jutsu from the scroll, so I pass the hidden exam, right?"
Iruka blinked, his face mollified. He said, his voice betraying his confusion. "Hidden exam? Who gave you that idea? I only noticed that you hadn't been at your apartment, and that the Hokage sounded the alarm that someone had taken the Scroll of Sealing."
Naruto frowned, as he said, in an equally confused manner. "Weird. Mizuki-sensei had stated that if I was able to retrieve a scroll and learn from it, I would pass the Hidden Exam to be a Genin."
Sharp whistling was heard, and Naruto's third eye barely detected black moving objects toward them. The darkened forest lowered visibility, and the third eye didn't possess the cat Henge manipulation.
He spun around as he extended his chakra around Iruka. The shuriken and kunai that had nearly impaled Iruka was held firm by Naruto's chakra grip.
He gathered the weaponry around him, commanding darkly. "Reveal yourself, scum."
Naruto blinked as Mizuki jumped down from the tree above and behind them, a large four-star Shuriken held in his hands as he aimed to kill Iruka.
The large Shuriken was held in place by Naruto's chakra, as Shuriken reversed direction at Naruto's command, jerking back at a higher velocity.
The Shuriken was still held in Mizuki's hands, so the abrupt jerk backwards dislocated both of his shoulders, causing Mizuki to howl in pain.
Naruto turned around, scowling darkly at Mizuki. "Traitor. You used me."
Mizuki dislocated arms cracked back into place as he growled, his eyes glinting darkly at the duo. Iruka had been shocked and unable to move but had finally reacted to turn around as he exclaimed in horror. "Mizuki? Y-you were trying to kill me! You bastard!"
Mizuki scowled, as he began weaving hand signs, before releasing his jutsu with a mad grin.
Spears made of earth chakra shot forward toward Iruka and Naruto. Naruto blurred forward, his mind moving his outer form at a speed he hadn't moved at before. He quickly launched Iruka out of the way, as the spears of earth slammed into his metal armor.
He smirked in triumph as the metal easily blocked the earth spears. He wove a hand toward Mizuki, the surrounding metal that he still had in his field molding into a liquid metallic shape that blurred forward and ensnared Mizuki, holding him in place and unable to use Jutsu.
Mizuki struggled, but Naruto's hardened expression and will was unyielding, the metal hardening into a cast of Mizuki's held form as Naruto extracted his chakra from the metal. Iruka looked both furious and awed by Naruto's skill with metallic manipulation. Either Naruto had gained the Jinton, or something like it, but he wasn't complaining either way.
Naruto expanded and manipulated a kunai into a form of metal cage that enshrouded Mizuki while leaving a small hole so he could breathe. He then lifted the casket into the air with his chakra and both went to the Hokage.
After an explanation from Naruto about what he'd learned and the why he had done so, the Scroll of Sealing was placed back into the container it came from, with a few added seals to protect it, before Mizuki was stripped and sent to the Interrogation department for Ibiki and Anko.
Naruto grinned when he was granted the rank of Genin, and was dismissed.
The Sandiame waited until Naruto had left the hallway before he turned to Iruka, his face contemplative. "I assume you've reached a similar conclusion?"
Iruka nodded his face a mixture of awe and determination. His voice resounded those emotions as he spoke.
"Naruto has a new bloodline, something that's similar to Jinton, except on a much higher scale. He's able to command, warp, and twist metal itself into different forms and shapes. It's like a much higher form of offense/defense to that of the Jinchurriki of the Shukaku."
The Sandiame nodded, before speaking, adding his own thoughts to the conversation.
"This is a SS-rank secret, so I'm sure you know how much a secret that is. Naruto's chakra coils are fused, bound into an orb-like structure caused by the Shiki Fuin that Minato had used to seal away the Kyubbi. He lives only because the Fuinjutsu was designed to leak the Kyubbi's chakra into the boy, allowing his body to use the immense chakra to harden the coils from snapping and breaking. The result of the deformed coils is that his chakra is naturally imbalanced."
Iruka's eyes grew wide before he muttered quietly.
"Then, how's Naruto able to pull off such Jutsu? To a proficiency of not needing hand seals?"
The Sandiame shook his head softly as he spoke.
"That's something I don't know, and I doubt I ever will. What I do know is this, Iruka-kun. Naruto's not using Jutsu. Jutsu requires a mixture of Spiritual and Physical energy. With Naruto's imbalance, which perfected mixture is impossible to maintain beyond even the smallest of amounts. Naruto's shifting the real world using another method."
Iruka nodded, as he realized that Naruto was forging a new path of being a Shinobi from scratch.
The two soon parted ways to their dwellings. Unbeknownst to the duo, an invisible metal head of a clone had been floating in the air. Naruto had heard everything.
Naruto's real eyes opened as he commanded the metal head to dissipate and reform here. He had found that his ability with switching his body was instantaneous, and was able to appear anywhere he could see. With his own eyes and the clone's extra set of eyes, his range had just increased dramatically. With a sharp pop, the head appeared in front of him, and quickly merged with the rest of the metal body that was encased around Naruto's own form.
He found his range with controlling metal was limited within a few meters around him. The exception had been his clone's head, which was connected to his own mind and control, no matter how far apart, provided he and his metal clone still had chakra to connect to each other.
Well, could he really call it 'chakra'? If he wasn't performing Jutsu, and his chakra was imbalanced, then what was he doing? What would he call this ability of his?
He remembered an old term, one often used by those who didn't know the word 'chakra' to describe things ninja did. Magic. That's what he would call it. He was using magic. He wondered if that made him a wizard, like in those Harry Potter books often given to children.
He decided that he would use a more wisdom-sounding word for himself. Calling himself a wizard would mean no one would take him seriously.
He would be a magician then. He liked that word. Still, he could always look to the Harry Potter novels for ideas and such. It wasn't stealing if you came up with a similar way to do stuff, right? After all, it wasn't as if he had a wand.
End Chapter One
A/N: What'd you think? Good? Bad? I'm uncertain if this goes in crossover sections since it's using the material as a reference, not actually using the characters, world, and maybe not even the incantations themselves.