"Take it, Naruto." The man said, holding a small object within his hand.
Naruto just stared at the round object presented. He struggled coming to terms with what his sensei was asking of him, but knew Kakashi was serious. It was right there, 3 black tomoe over a red iris.
"You want me to what now?" Naruto asked shakily.
He had a strong idea of why, but he needed to hear it from his sensei.
"Obito is safe within the hidden dimension of Kamui with Sakura, and Madara needs my Sharingan to reach Obito and grab the second Rinnegan. Right now the only two people that stand a chance against Madara, are you and Sasuke, and since Sasuke already has a sharingan the task is left to you." Kakashi explained to his student.
Naruto just swallowed and looked at the Sharingan eye with trepidation.
"I know it's a difficult choice, sacrificing your eye for this one." Naruto's sensei started with a sympathetic look. "But we can't let this fall into Madara's hands or we'll have lost."
Naruto still looked hesitant, so Kakashi decided to speak up.
"Don't think of it as a request from your failure of a sensei." Here Kakashi looked down with a self-depreciative smile behind his mask. "Think of it as a way to protect everyone."
Almost immediately Kakashi felt a hand take the eye out of his hand, and looked up as Naruto spoke to him.
"You're not a failure, sensei." Naruto said with a bright smile, one Kakashi noted he hadn't seen in a while, as the young blonde crouched down to his level.
"Sure you weren't the best, but you helped me out when I was at my lowest. It may not seem like much to you, but it meant a lot to me." Naruto explained, before rising and beginning the process of transplanting the Sharingan eye into his right eye socket, using the healing prowess that came along with the Yang chakra given to him by the Sage just moments before.
Kakashi closed his eyes and let his thoughts linger on the past. Back when Sasuke had first defected and left Naruto in bad shape, lying on the ground in a rain soaked Valley of the End with a hole in his jacket from a point blank Chidori. After Kakashi had taken Naruto to the hospital to rest up, was when his personality had shifted. Naruto had become bitter and resentful. If he wasn't training himself into chakra exhaustion, he was brooding around the village somewhere. It wasn't until he had a talk with his student, and gave him some pointers on training, that Naruto started to open up to people again. Of course he wasn't nearly as loud or energetic as he used to be. Most of the time he only let off small smiles or had a pleased look on his face, but he was still able to make friends with enemies, and change the hearts of many through passionate speeches. It was soon after that he was taken on his training trip with Jiraiya.
Kakashi was snapped out of his reminiscing as Naruto formed a clone for the task at hand.
"Alright just make it quick!" Naruto ordered his clone as he clenched his teeth and closed his left eye.
The Naruto clone gulped before reaching out for the originals right eye. Kakashi watched in concern as the clone ripped out Naruto's right eye, and replaced it with the Sharingan. After that was completed, the clone pressed his right palm against the originals eyelid and healed it with his yang chakra before dispersing.
Kakashi rose and watched as Naruto opened his new right eye. A crimson iris adorned with 3 tomoe stared back at him from Naruto's right eye, while his left remained blue. Sasuke soon arrived with Sakura in tow, happening upon Naruto healing Kakashi's eye.
"So that's the power the Sage gave you." Sasuke remarked only to widen his eyes in surprise when Naruto turned to face him.
"Naruto! You eye, How?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Sensei entrusted his eye in my care, now Madara doesn't have a chance of regaining the other Rinnegan." Naruto answered.
Sasuke looked unsure for a second, but regained his composure. Sakura bit her lip, but was overall content with her teammates safety.
However a wrench was thrown into their plans when a Black Zetsu controlled Obito left the other dimension, and Madara gained the other Rinnegan. They all prepared themselves for battle but were thrown for a curve when the Black Zetsu stabbed Madara in the back, and resurrected Kaguya. A fierce battle would entail before-
"Wake up, this is urgent." A gruff voice spoke.
Naruto opened his eyes and took note of his surroundings. He was lying on his back in a forest.
'Wait what am I doing in the forest? I should be in the battlefield!' Naruto realized almost immediately.
No doubt, the place where Octopops and him had begun their fight with Obito was in a forest before being obliterated by The 8 Tails, but this was not the same forest. The trees were much smaller to start. Not to mention the amount of chakra inside of them were abnormally low.
'Kurama what's going on, and where are we?' Naruto asked narrowing his eyes and taking stock of his surroundings.
"There is much to discuss, come within the mindscape." Was Kurama's response.
Naruto didn't like the sound of it, but he needed answers. He quickly hopped onto a branch in one of the larger trees in his immediate area, and leaned his back against the trunk.
Closing his eyes and reopening them to find 9 beasts surrounding him.
"Whats going on?" Naruto asked looking around at all the Tailed Beasts.
Surprisingly it was Matatabi who spoke first.
"I can sense the feel of the world were in, and i'll tell you right now, we're a long ways away from the Elemental Nations." Matatabi informed.
"Just how far are we talking about?" The boy inquired.
"Do you know anything about Space-Time Manipulation? Or more specifically are you aware of different dimensions?" The large cat inquired.
He knew more than most about Space-Time Manipulation. Throughout the three year training trip he had been taught everything Jiraiya knew about Sealing, and Time-Space Manipulation Theory was one of the things Naruto had spent a bulk of his time learning about. Alternate and Parallel Dimensions was a topic not many had researched, so the pervert hadn't taught him much about it, However.
"Obitos Kamui ability had the power to transport things to a separate dimension, and Kaguya was able to create multiple dimensions at will." Naruto answered.
Naruto gulped, before fixing a fierce stare on the Two Tailed Cat before him.
"Are you trying to tell me we're in an alternate dimension?" He asked fearing the answer.
Matatabi nodded her head in response.
This was just great.
He was in a separate dimension with no clear way to get home.
He didn't know how he got here.
And he couldn't gain a firm grasp of his chakra.
"What's wrong with my chakra?" Naruto suddenly asked, looking up at the greatest of Tailed Beasts for answers.
"I'll be able to explain once I tell you the circumstances of how we got here." Kurama said resting his head on his hands and closing his eyes, looking as if he were prepared to sleep.
Snapping one crimson eye open and peering down at his container, The mighty fox launched into his explanation.
"In order to seal off my grandmother, you and the Uchiha brat needed to touch her at the same time with those seals on your palms. Just when you touched her however, Kaguya managed to tear another hole in reality." The fox stated, referring to Kaguya's ability to rip tears in the very fabric of time and space using just chakra. "Unfortunately for her, she couldn't fully escape into the portal when you sealed her off. With nothing fueling it, the tear sucked in the nearest power source and closed itself. The place we found ourselves in was a threat to your very existence, and it took everything I had to keep you from dying. I was so focused that I wasn't aware of our surroundings, and my siblings were providing me with extra chakra. However I did notice a large red dragon-"
"Hold on, a dragon you say?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
"Yes a dragon, now don't interrupt me." Kurama retorted rather annoyed, before continuing. "Yes a large red dragon, many many times larger than me."
A being larger and probably more powerful than Kurama himself. Naruto could hardly wrap his head around it. He hoped to The Sage he would never have to face off against that thing.
"Not too long after that someone came to help us. I don't know anything other than that it was a female whose strength easily rivalled ours." The fox said with a look of displeasure. "She sent us to where we are now."
"Onto the issue of your chakra however." The large fox said finally giving Naruto his full attention. "Even though I was healing us, your chakra was forcibly changed to adapt to our new surroundings, and your chakra circulatory system was shredded. It will take some time to heal, but the fact of the matter is, all your techniques beside the basic two you learned at the academy you will have to relearn. It will take a month or so before you can try relearning any of your jutsu, and until then all you can do is train in chakra control since the strain it places on your coils is very light."
"So that's the situation, huh. What about Sage Mode?" Naruto asked.
"The time it takes to gather Natural Energy in this world takes too long, you'll have to train in order to decrease it." Kurama replied.
Naruto just bit his lip and mulled over things. First off, he needed a base of operations to work from, and to gather as much information as he could about this new world he was living in. But before all that-
"Do you know what happened to Sasuke?" He asked.
"I assume he was sucked into the tear with you, however I was too focused to notice if he was there or not." Kurama replied with a huff, before laying down once more.
Naruto wanted to believe Sasuke's Susanoo had protected him, but images of their fight came back to him.
They had believed Susanoo was indestructible, but that had been proven wrong when Naruto managed to scratch its surface with a Big Ball Rasenshuriken.
He could also remember Sasuke descending in a winged Susanoo, dual swords at the ready, dropping onto Kaguya like a guillotine. Before Kaguya melted the swords down to nothing with sheer chakra. The chance of Sasuke surviving in that space that threatened his very existence looked low.
"If we meet this woman again, would you recognize her chakra signature?" Naruto asked the fox.
"Her power was different from chakra, but I did get a good read on it. I would be able to discern her should we ever cross paths once more." Kurama assured tiredly.
"Good, get some rest. Although when you wake see if you can sense any powerful signatures near us, I'll be gathering information in the meantime." Naruto informed the powerful fox, before leaving his mindscape.
It was nighttime, and the loud chirping of crickets could be heard all around him. He could smell rain on the horizon, and a quick glance at the sky showed that it wouldn't be long before it started pouring.
"And pour it will." The blonde said as he hopped down from his branch and made his way out the forest, seeking a shelter for the night.
He would need to find a place to stay that would double as his base of operations. Information was key in this situation, and Naruto would not be caught off guard.
Naruto shortly broke out a line of trees and happened upon a road. Unlike the ones back home however this one was pitch black and had a broken yellow line crossing through the middle, effectively splitting it into 2 paths. And the smell…
It was faint but it smelled like the time Jiraiya had used a combination jutsu between Earth and Fire Style Jutsu to make a burning tar that could be used to trap enemi-
'Tar!' Naruto exclaimed within his mind.
It was a cooled down tar that had been laid down over the ground. It was an ingenious method that would stop the problem of muddy roads. It was more durable, meaning heavier loads could be brought across.
Naruto walked in the direction he heard the most noise coming from.
It was clear from that alone this place must have been more technologically advanced than his world.
It wasn't long before he had come across civilization. The sights, the sounds, the smells, it was all fascinating. The bright lights and new smells filled his senses and left him in shock and awe. Large skyscrapers dotted the sky and reminded Naruto of his time in the city of Loran. Memories of his adventure stuck in a city 20 years in the past with the red headed and purple eyed beauty Sara struck him, leaving him with a small smile on his face as he tucked his hands in his pockets.
Seeing advertising for businesses scattered throughout the city, Naruto was happy to see that there would be no language barrier, and it seemed that the currency was also the same.
Well not everything about this situation was bad. Those were his two biggest obstacles, but knowing he didn't need to deal with them made his life easier. Yeah maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.
That's what he thought before he had been taken into custody by two policemen, apparently 'concerned about his safety' having seen the state of his dress, and quickly deducting he had been in a fight.
So after a long night of interrogation, Naruto was led to someone that would help him find a place of residence.
Apparently since he was only 16 and a half, he would have to attend high school. It seemed in this world you completed your education at 18.
The closest school was a place called Kuoh Academy, some prestigious school that had just recently gone co-ed. He went along with it knowing this was a great opportunity to gain information about this new world he resided in.
So it was decided he would be staying with a student from the school while he was here. The lady who had helped him fill out all the necessary forms told him it was something lots of foreign exchange students did. The lady got in contact with the school, talked to the principal and got a roster, then hung up and informed him of his new home.
It seemed he would be staying with a kid named Issei Hyoudou. A second year like him.
Of course things hadn't gone that smoothly. He had been asked a lot of questions he couldn't quite answer, and it was at a time like this he wished he knew how to cast Genjutsu with his new Sharingan eye from Kakashi-sensei.
Oh well, all he could focus on in training the next month or so was Taijutsu, Chakra Control, and now the abilities of his Sharingan.
"Hi, I'm Naruto. It's nice to meet you." He addressed the family of three.
While everyone was trading pleasantries, Issei took the time to study the foreign exchange student he'd be housing.
Spiky blonde hair that seemed to stick up without any gel whatsoever. The spikes drooping down in the back the farther you got down until it reached his upper back. 2 bangs framing the sides of his face that fell to his collarbone, while the rest seemed to rest level with his eyes. A mismatched pair of eyes at that, the left blue, and the right golden to match his hair. 6 symmetrical lines in the form of a birthmark spanned his cheeks, having a striking resemblance with whiskers.
He stood at a solid 6 feet, and from what he could see had a good build. It wasn't that he was broad shouldered or had a large chest, no he was more lean like that of a professional runner or swimmer.
All in all this kid was one of the popular guys him and his trio of perverts couldn't stand. However he couldn't hate the guy standing in front of him. He just had this aura about him that made him seem like a good guy.
He watched a little more as Naruto just gave a soft smile and answered everyone's questions.
"Um as much as I would love to get to know you better, I'm extremely tired. If you could show me to where I'll be sleeping I would greatly appreciate it." Naruto interrupted.
Just then Issei looked back up at his mismatched eyes, and saw the signs of fatigue in the bags under his eyes.
"Oh of course, how rude of us you must have a serious case of jetlag." Issei's mother piped up, before his father continued along that train of thought. "Yeah Issei, show Naruto here to the guest bedroom where he'll be staying for the time being."
"Well come with me then." Issei gestured with his head towards the door.
The blonde in front of him just gave him a small smile of relief, before following him into the house.
Issei just chuckled softly as Naruto practically dolphin dived into the bed. Closing the door softly, Issei couldn't help but feel that the guy only a few months younger than him was a good person. He also couldn't help but feel as if things would get interesting soon, as he walked towards his room ready to finally turn in for the night.
Naruto snapped his eyes open and looked about alert and focused in the split second between sleep and consciousness. A look at the clock on the nightstand showed it to be 5:59 am. He threw his legs over the side of the bed, before fixing the comforter he had slept on top of last night in his haste to sleep.
He got into his morning routine of light stretching before launching into full blown exercise. It was after 45 minutes of exercising that Naruto began the process of grueling stretches meant to increase his flexibility and agility. As he was, he thought back on the time when he had spent a full 3 months with Bushy brows and his sensei working on taijutsu. The importance of keeping a flexible and agile body had been hammered into his skull during all their meetings. They had worked him over until the simple act of walking left his legs feeling extremely loose and unstable, it wasn't long till they had him doing the splits. It did turn out for the best however as his taijutsu improved dramatically due to it.
Naruto sighed wistfully as he finished his morning warm ups. Next up was the task of chakra control training.
Naruto pulled out a senbon from a special storage seal on a tongue piercing he had been forced to get, having lost a bet with that woman Anko. Shizune had taught him that cool trick on spitting out senbon from her mouth afterwards though, so Naruto had made the best of the situation by placing a storage seal upon the piercing for senbon. Naruto spent the next few minutes getting a handle on rolling the senbon over his knuckles using just chakra. Finally getting the exercise done, Naruto used a chakra string in his left hand to manipulate the senbon, holding it steady in the air as he perform little twirls and flips with the needle. Once that had been completed, he placed the senbon back into his mouth and sealed it away.
Great, he had slightly better chakra control than he did when he graduated the academy. He probably still couldn't do the tree climbing exercise, let alone water walking.
But wait, wouldn't that mean he could still at least use Shadow Clones. They didn't take much control, just a lot of chakra. With the amount available to him while he was recovering he could make 10 and be able to tackle the day.
Even though that would have been incredibly impressive for a jonin, to Naruto it was nothing. When he was 12 he had been able to make upwards to 600 hundred, well over 1000 before he came here. He might as well have been 4 years old with this amount of chakra at disposal.
Seeing the clock read 7:10 am, Naruto left his room in search of the bathroom to begin a bath and his first day of highschool.
"Hey there big boy, it's time to wake up." Came the sultry voice pre recorded into the young man's alarm clock.
Issei slammed his hand on the alarm, effectively shutting it off, before groggily looking at the time and reading 7:15 am.
"Oh good, you're awake." Came the voice of Issei's new house guest.
Turning over to face him, Issei was greeted by a small pleasant smile.
"Is there something you need?" Issei inquired, becoming a little more alert at the blonde's presence.
"Yeah, I wanted to hop in the shower. Can you show me where the towels are?" Naruto asked slightly sheepish.
"Yeah right on it, just give me a sec." Issei replied.
"You two have a good day at school, and Naruto, make lots of friends." The two parents set them off with waves, as Naruto and Issei began their trek to school.
Naruto was feeling decidedly uncomfortable in his new wardrobe. Closed toed shoes that lacked ankle support, nor had the traction underneath required to mask his footsteps. It was almost painfully loud, and it was only made worse by the swish of his pants. These 'slacks' fell down to well below his ankles, a stark change from the three-quarter length supported by bandages look everyone had before. He could deal with the tightness if it weren't for the fact the material it was made from wasn't capable of stretching with his body movements. The arms of his sleeves around the armpit area were too stiff for comfort, and the tie would only get in the way.
He was so glad most of his clothes were sealed on his person.
It wasn't long before they reached school grounds, and classes had started. A large majority of girls had become quickly infatuated with him, and often took a moment to stare at him when they thought he didn't notice. However he had lived most of his life being stared at, plus he was a ninja, he was always aware. It was a nice change from the looks he had used to get when he was younger. Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find out the material they were going over in class, was the same as the material taught in his 2nd to last year of the academy. He was 10, barely going on 11 at the time, but it seemed kids in their late teens were struggling with some of the material. It seemed as if the people of this world were weaker in both body and mind. The only thing he found new was history. It was a far cry from what it was like back home. The Elemental Nations only had about 100 or so years of recorded history, being when the first Ninja Villages were founded. This world was in its 21st century, so much more had gone on in this place and it was almost distressing.
A few hours into the school day, a bell rang signalling the start of lunch, and Naruto walked off into the woods surrounding the school. Letting a small fraction of his chakra flare out around him, he was able to ascertain that no one would see what he was up to. He spawned a dozen clones, trying to keep somewhat inconspicuous, and had them work on chakra control. Satisfied, Naruto walked closer to the school and picked a nice thick branch to sit in. Back against the bark and his feet spread against the branch, he watched as a soft breeze blew some leaves away. The blonde boy let out a steady flow of chakra into the air and mixed it into the air currents, creating a continuous breeze that carried leaves away.
'Now's as good as any time to test out my Sharingan.' He thought to himself, guiding chakra to his right eye and adjusting to his new sight.
It wasn't that the leaves had started moving slower, but it could easily be mistaken as it. The Sharingan's ability to analyze everything in its sight to the smallest detail, and the fact that his vision wasn't affected by having a normal left eye left him with a considerably fascinating sight. It was strange how even things far off into the distance were still in focus. One would think it would give off a nauseating effect, but Naruto found it didn't bother him whatsoever. The chakra he was circulating throughout the air was clear to him. It was the familiar dark blue chakra he was able to see when he used to flare extremely large amounts as a child. His attention was brought back to the leaves fluttering in the breeze. He could easily see the network of veins in the cluster of leaves that took up most of his vision.
'43.' Naruto counted.
The sheer processing speed was beyond belief, he had been able to count all 43 leaves within the single second he saw the cluster start moving.
Looking up Naruto took in the sight that would forever be engrained in his memory. A stunning masterpiece that broke his calm demeanor and made him widen his eyes. Of lovely red hair, even more beautiful than his mother's. Creamy milk colored skin that held such prominent features only seen within royal families. A heart shaped face he had only seen in a rare few princesses from back home. A figure women would sell their soul to the devil for, and a chest that few women could ever hope to come in the fortune of. A small dainty nose set above a set of lips slightly upturned.
In complete focus, in an eyesight better than 20/20, Naruto's Sharingan drunk in every detail. Furiously analysing, processing, and committing to memory the sight that had stolen his full attention.
Ultramarine eyes that held kindness and compassion locked onto his. A picture perfect sight completed. A master sculptures entire existence poured into this one project. His entire life's knowledge put to the test to create this girl who caught his attention. Yes, this girl who locked eyes with him, the girl whose looks transcended beauty and brought even the heavens into disarray. Her eyes widened in surprise it seemed.
'Shit, she sees my Sharingan!' Naruto realized.
'I thought I told you not to take it easy on me.' Rias thought to herself, as she examined the purposefully easy to spot trap.
Rias mentally sighed.
Suddenly a breeze came through the window carrying a foreign energy. It was faint so Akeno hadn't picked it up yet, but there it was.
Walking towards the window and looking down Rias was met with a surprising sight.
The source of the foreign energy being a tan boy of 16 years sitting in a tree branch just below her. Long blonde hair that seemed to spike up in places without the help of gel. A couple marks on his cheeks that looked quite similar to whisker marks. Then they locked eyes.
'His right eye, is he some sort of sacred gear holder?' Rias thought with unconcealed surprise.
His right eye was a deep crimson, a complete opposite of his blue left eye. Spinning around his iris lazily seemed to be 3 black tomoe.
Suddenly a leaf flashed in her immediate field of vision and blocked her view of the young man for a split second. When she looked into his eyes once more, his right eye had lost its red hue, and instead bore a golden yellow. Strangely enough his right eye didn't have a pupil, but she was torn from her discoveries when she saw the small smile and wave he sent her. Waving back and flashing her own killer smile, Rias watched as something out of her sight caught his attention. The boy just let himself slide off the branch, before flipping himself right before he landed as if it was so easy. Ultramarine eyes followed him as he walked away.
"Who was that?" Rias finally asked, sensing when her queen had looked out the window over her shoulder.
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze." She answered as she saw the boy flip off the tree and walk off. "He's a foreign exchange student who just enrolled today. Why do you ask?"
"He's caught my interest." Rias answered and turned around to see her rook, Koneko, sitting on the couch watching her intently.
"Koneko I want you to see if he holds holds a Sacred Gear." She ordered.
The two watched as Koneko left the room intent on carrying out her orders to her best ability.
"Do you really think he could be a holder?" Akeno asked curiously.
"Even if he doesn't, he's already proven to be a good candidate to add to the peerage." Rias answered evenly, finally settling back into the game of chess they had just started.
Naruto was able to deactivate the eye in time, and hopefully she would believe she was seeing things.
That was extremely unlikely though, he had seen the foreign energy teeming in her veins. There were strong people in this world who could accomplish extraordinary things, whether they had chakra or not.
Naruto pushed away the thought as he stopped just short of the tree line. Just some feet away was Issei pressed against the wall of the woman's changing room. Surrounding him on all sides was the Girls Kendo Club. Naruto couldn't help the amused expression coming across his face as the encounter reminded him of his masters post hot spring beatdown.
'Never mind that now, seems the kid needs some help.' He thought getting serious.
"Well well what a surprise." One of the girls stated with a look on her face that promised punishment.
Issei didn't know what to do, who would when faced with all this feminine just when he thought all was lost, a small object came speeding in at the corner of his vision. A large smoke screen sprung up, and obscured the girls vision for a brief few seconds. When it cleared, to the girls shock, he was gone.
The leader just grit her teeth together, before turning away and leaving, the rest of the team following.
After a solid ten seconds, a section of the wall fell down, revealing itself to be a camouflage tarp, and hiding the two boys.
Naruto fell to the ground laughing, it had been ages since he last used that trick, it was the day before graduation if he remembered correctly.
"Thanks for saving my ass, man." Issei said gratefully, before he checked out the tarp that had fooled the ladies and widening his eyes in surprise. "Woah, how'd you get your hands on something like this?"
"That," Naruto started, getting back to his feet and taking the tarp from him. "Is a Camo-sheet. It mimics the look of whatever object you place it against."
Naruto demonstrated by holding it up near some trees, and with a quick application of chakra, changed the background.
"And yeah, the smoke bomb was mine too." Naruto answered the unasked question.
"What are you, some sort of ninja?" Issei asked in complete awe, not even aware of how close to the truth he was.
Not even a second later, Issei found himself on the business end of a real deal kunai, and a few strands of blonde hair at the edge of his vision was the only indication he needed to know who it was.
"Can you keep a secret?" Naruto said with a small smirk, standing behind the perverted boy with a blade at his neck. Naruto released him, and sealed the kunai within a storage seal on his wrist. Naruto took no small satisfaction at the look on Issei's face.
Suddenly almost as fast as he had moved earlier, Issei was bowed before him. Naruto didn't know how to react and backed up a step.
"Uhh-" Naruto started before being cut off.
"All powerful and mighty Ninja, oh please take me under your wing, and train me in the Arts of The Ninja!" Issei begged.
Naruto let a small smile come across his face.
"Alright just call me Uzumaki sensei, and today we'll get started by learning about chakra, if you show promise we'll get to leaf exercises later." He replied, and the smile that lit up on Issei's face would forever stay with him, even without his Sharingan active.
"Issei." Naruto called out.
Looking at the brown haired boy before him, He couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride. He had understood the basics of chakra fairly easily, and a look at the boy's chakra network with his Sharingan showed he had a good level of chakra in him, just a bit higher than Sasuke's when they were working on their tree walking back in Wave. He was an exception however, as most people still had incredibly pitiful reserves.
"Yeah what's up, Naruto?" Came Issei's voice bringing Naruto back to the matter at hand.
"There's some things I have to take care of so you'll be walking by yourself today," Naruto said, but quickly continued seeing the crestfallen look on his face. "But no need to fear my cute little genin."
Issei looked slightly put off by his nickname, and Naruto could only smile remembering when Kakashi sensei used to address him as so.
Naruto picked a leaf off a tree and held it out for Issei to see.
"Every young shinobi is taught this exercise, I'm pretty sure I learned it when I was 8. It's a basic Chakra Control Exercise that teaches you to focus chakra at certain parts of your body." Naruto then demonstrated by sticking the leaf to his forehead.
Issei just stared at the leaf in befuddlement.
"By focusing Chakra at one point on my forehead I can stick this leaf to it. Now remember what I said about Tenketsu?" Upon seeing Issei's nod, Naruto continued his small lecture. "You want to expel chakra from your tenketsu, and make a small coating on the underside of the leaf to create the attracting forces. If you keep expelling chakra in that manner, however, the leaf will blast off, so to get rid of that excess chakra you need to drag it through your inactive tenketsu."
"Oh ok, that makes sense." Issei said as he walked to the tree and grabbed a leaf.
"I'm doing it!" Issei shouted out having successfully completed the exercise on his first try.
Naruto let out a small chuckle, Issei's good mood being highly contagious.
"Alright alright, good job, but were not done quite yet." Naruto stated with an amused expression.
"What's next then Uzumaki sensei?" Came Issei's response.
"I want you to hold a leaf on your calves, thighs, palms, forearms, biceps and forehead simultaneously for an hour." To this Issei only took on a determined expression, leading Naruto to believe he might finish it tonight. "On the off chance you complete that, you'll work on keeping a leaf floating above your palm. For this exercise you'll want to drive the chakra out your tenketsu in a straight line until it starts to rise, in order to keep it levitating at a stable height you have to let your chakra dissipate at a certain distance, think of it like a fountain. Once you get really good you can do things like this."
Naruto picked several more leaves off the tree and had them levitate in layers above his palm, before spinning them in alternate clockwise, counter-clockwise patterns.
"And your saying I can do that." His new apprentice asked, completely awestruck.
"You haven't even scratched the surface of what us Ninjas can do." Naruto said with a smirk. "Once you finish this it won't be long before I have you walking up walls and on ceilings, then walking on water."
"Bullshit, you can't walk on water, what are you Naru-jesus." Issei scoffed.
'Well during the 4th Great Shinobi War, I did have some god-like powers.' Naruto thought.
"Come on, I'm your sensei, would I ever set you on the wrong path." Naruto said teasingly.
"Well you've been pretty good so far." Issei grudgingly admitted.
"Walking on water is nothing once I get you started on breathing fireballs, creating earth dragons, or widespread Lightning Style attacks." The blonde shinobi promised.
"You just wait, I'm totally gonna get these exercises down soon." Issei declared, a sudden fire in his eyes.
"I can't wait." Naruto returned with a bright smile.
Walking towards the forest with a serious expression across his face, Naruto was prepared for an exceptionally brutal training session.
'My clones should have finished Tree Walking, so that leaves Water Walking, Free For All Taijutsu, practicing Genjutsu with the Sharingan, relearning the Rasengan and all its variants, Change in Chakra Nature, and Shape Manipulation, Training with the other Tailed Beasts chakra, and lowering the time it takes to get into Sage Mode.' Naruto concluded.
'Since my chakra coils are still healing though, my tasks have been narrowed to, Chakra Control, practicing Genjutsu with the Sharingan, and Sage Mode. Maybe even the Tailed Beasts Chakra, since they're different entities and completely separate from my own Chakra Network. Yeah sounds like a pla-' Naruto was interrupted from his musing when he almost bumped into someone.
Letting his instincts kick in Naruto grabbed the girl by the shoulders and stopped her right in her tracks. Looking down he saw a girl he had seen walking around campus quite a lot today. Her name was Koneko Toujou, a first year as well as School Mascot, and everyone had their eyes on her. The boys wanted her, and the girls wanted to be her. Looking down at her, it wasn't hard to see why. A small and lithe frame, you could tell she had an incredibly tight body, yet still had a great amount of flexibility and agility.
'If she ever wants to learn Taijutsu, my style would be perfectly suited towards her.' Naruto thought.
Golden eyes just a shade or two darker than his right eye, although she did possess pupils unlike his right. Pure white hair that fell down in a way extremely similar to his own, only she had a bob cut in the back. Naruto suppressed a shiver at seeing the color of her hair.
'I don't think I can see white hair the same way ever again after having that battle with Kaguya.' Naruto thought.
"You know you should really watch where you're going little lady." He said with a teasing grin
"It didn't look like you were paying attention either." She replied with that deadpanned tone.
"That is true," Naruto shot back before his mischievous side took over. "But when you're as awesome as me, you have the skills to afford to walk around without paying attention."
The girl just sighed, but there was a small smile that graced her face for a second.
"Your name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, right?" She asked getting started with simple introductions. "You're the new Foreign Exchange Student."
"Yea that would be me, and I've heard quite a bit about you from around school." Came his reply.
This close to her and Naruto knew she wasn't just a normal human. No she smelled strongly of cats, more specifically the Two Tailed Cat that resided in his stomach.
'Cats like it when you pet them right?' Naruto thought before acting on it.
Raising a hand, Naruto placed two fingers at the bridge of her nose, before pushing her bangs back and patting her on the head a bit, causing a slight purr to escape her throat. If he wasn't currently enhancing his sense of smell and hearing, he would've missed it.
Letting a fond look cross his face, Naruto stopped his ministrations, earning a small groan of disapproval.
"I'd love to stick around and chat some more with you, but there's some things I need to take care of." He stated before walking off to train in earnest.
However Naruto wasn't the only one to glean some information from the encounter.
"Oh, Koneko you're back." Rias said with a small smile at the arrival of her Rook. "Were you able to find out anything about Naruto?"
Koneko sat down at the couch before reporting her findings.
"Upon seeing him, I made small talk. While this was going on I was able to discern a few things about him. He's not a sacred gear holder." Koneko reported to Rias' disappointment.
"However," She continued. "I can tell just from the way he carries himself he is extremely strong, and would make a good addition to our peerage."
Rias felt her hopes rise again. It seemed it was a good idea to scout him.
"I feel there's something else you should know," Koneko said, breaking Rias out of her thoughts. "He smells strongly of many different animals, more so than simply being around these animals could explain."
A look from Koneko told Rias that this was extremely important. Akeno chose that moment to walk in with a tray of tea. Rias picked one of the cups and thanked her Queen for the refreshments.
"Please continue." She spoke after having a sip of the tea.
"Yes Rias," The youngest girl in the room said diligently. "He smells most strongly of fox, and it seems to be connected to him the most of all. Toad falls in second place, followed by a mix of an octopus and ox, an insect, two different types of slugs, a mix between a dolphin and a horse, a monkey, a turtle, a cat, and lastly a raccoon. And although extremely faint, I'm sure there was a rabbit somewhere there."
"Hmm. That's very peculiar, but thank you for all your hard work." Rias said with a grateful smile.
"If that's all Rias," Koneko said standing up and heading towards the door. "I still need to look into our other candidate. He's letting Naruto stay at his place, and I'm almost positive he has a Sacred Gear."
Koneko shut the door softly on her way out, Akeno taking place behind her King.
"Issei Hyoudou, and Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, huh?" Akeno prompted, gaining a small chuckle from Rias.
"Yeah, the family's gonna get a little bigger soon." She replied good-heartedly.
"Excuse me, You're Issei Hyoudou from Kuoh Academy, right?"
Issei turned around, letting the leaf he had been hovering a couple inches above his hand fall down into his palm.
He was met by a beautiful girl in her school uniform, Long raven black hair that reflected more light than it drew in, and exotic purple eyes, much darker than the rare few girls he had ever seen with the color.
"Or am I wrong?" She finished.
"Yeah," Issei supplied. "That's me."
"I just wanted to ask you a quick question." She said nervously.
It was what she said next that really threw him for a loop.
"Are you seeing anyone right now?"
"Now, no." He answered, not too sure where she was going with this, but she seemed really happy with his answer if her bright smile was any indication.
"In that case since you're single," Now a little bit of her earlier nervousness showed. "Do you think you'd like to go out with me."
The sheer absurdity that a girl, one as good looking as her, would ask him out was enough to turn him into a stuttering mess, not even answering her question.
"I've been watching you, you pass by here a lot, and you seem so, I don't know, gentle."
He couldn't believe this was actually happening.
"And handsome." She almost struggled to get the words out. "See, the thing is, I'd like for you to be my boyfriend!"
"Wake up please! Would you please wake up now! Or, you could just stay in bed, but I'm not going down on you." Were the first words he heard walking into Issei's room.
Naruto looked at the boy who had the largest smile on his face.
"Somebody looks awfully happy today, did something good happen yesterday?"
His response was a dreamy eyed look from the aforementioned boy.
"No, Please God!"
"What!"
Not even their horror stricken words could bring down his mood, not with the beautiful girl hanging off his arm.
"Guy's this is Yuuma Amano, my girlfriend." Issei introduced. "And these are my good buds, Matsuda and Motohama."
A bright smile followed by a "Nice to meet you." was Yuuma's response.
Issei couldn't help rubbing it in their faces, before the two walked away, arm in arm.
"He betrayed us!"
"You were right, 100%" Koneko reported.
"I'm just glad I asked you two to keep an eye on him." Was Rias' reply.
"What next?"
Rias eyed the chess pieces in front of her.
"All we can do is make preparations." She said moving a few pieces around. "And now we'll have to include Uzumaki."
Naruto paused his training efforts.
An immediate look around showed various Naruto Clones all focusing on different tasks. This being his second day of training, he was excited to see his chakra control finally back at the level it used to be. His basic Jutsu, The Transformation and Substitution were better than ever. Now with time to focus on his skills, they were more accurate, precise, and much faster.
However the bulk of his training the past two nights had been focused around his right eye.
Discovering the uses of his Sharingan led to several discoveries. Mostly the ins and outs of how the Sharingan worked. When using it, one of the biggest things was the different colors his eye assigned to chakra. Fire tended to have a orange haze surrounding it, Wind a light grey, Water had a deep, almost royal blue aura surrounding it. Earth and Lightning didn't actually show much which was surprising, However he could see the actual chakra flowing off it in wisps.
Then the ninjutsu aspect of it, The eyes ability to copy whatever the user saw, wasn't just that limited. The user simply had to envision what the end result was, and then the body and mind would work as one to recreate the results. Of course it wasn't that easy. He couldn't just imagine a meteor coming out of the sky, and then his body just doing it. No, it had to be something they were familiar with, something they could easily envision within mind. Case in point, Sasuke during their Chunnin Exams. Sasuke simply had to imagine Rock Lee pulling off the moves, he didn't necessarily have to be there, and record what it was he was trying to copy. And this is what really enraptured him. Naruto had a photographic memory, all the Jutsu he had seen pulled off in front of him in his various battles, all the Taijutsu, it was easy for him to picture them with perfect clarity.
So while he couldn't exactly use ninjutsu at the moment, he had been testing the limits, and added a lot more to his Taijutsu repertoire. Once he had completed that he had fought with 10 clones. The spar had lasted 4 hours, seeing as the clones were using their Sharingan and were able to dodge more, as well as Naruto's natural fighting abilities. It had been a good session, and he had been able to hammer out a solid style incorporating everything he had just learned. Add on the fact that when the clones dispersed, the 40 hours put into acclimating with the Sharingan, and forcing your body to react to what you were seeing, hit him.
The only thing left was Genjutsu, and that was surprisingly the easiest.
In the beginning it had been difficult, Naruto not knowing how to initiate it. Only going off the brief explanations about, sending chakra into someone's brain, and then the genjutsu holds.
Yeah, not a whole lot of information there.
But, once he had found out how to initiate it, crafting the illusion was child's play.
In a fraction of a second he could catch his clone in an illusion, and still manipulate what they were seeing in real world time. Then had come the time to actually start layering illusions.
Naruto found that he could layer up to 3 different illusions on someone, however he couldn't manipulate any of them once they set. He had to use genjutsu that would only serve one basic purpose, instead of manipulating each environment to his will.
Now all he had to work on was area wide illusions, and getting to his Mangekyo. No matter how much he tried though, he couldn't get to the 2nd evolution.
It was incredibly frustrating, he really wanted to suck shit up into different dimensions, damnmit!
"Naruto." Came the resounding boom of Kurama's voice.
'Yeah.' Naruto answered back, ready for any news on the situation.
"I found a very large source of power originating northwest, about 65 miles from our position." The fox informed. "And I could feel a band of chakra users there as well."
Naruto took in all the information, before he replied.
"The place you're probably thinking of is Kyoto." He answered.
He would have to go tomorrow, he needed to find out more about what was going on.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Naruto?" Matatabi asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Yeah, why not just wait until your chakra coils have healed up, or even until you've practiced more with our chakra?" Son Goku added.
"Even with just the Sharingan, and the few jutsu I can currently do, I'll be more than able to handle any situation that arises." Naruto said with a slight frown. "And even if I did get in over my head, I have all of you to help me out."
Of course, as if to prove Son Goku's point, A bubble made from Kokuo's chakra, blew up and took out the clone that intiated it, as well as melting off the trunks of the surrounding tree's.
The blonde just let out a sigh.
Getting a feel for the chakra he had available to him, Naruto created 3 more clones with enough chakra to get them through the night.
"Where are you going." One of the clones called out.
" Home, I need to pack, I still plan on going to Kyoto tomorrow."
"And you just expect us to work out here all night!"
The clone's question went unanswered however, as Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
The clone just huffed a sigh, and returned to his original task.
"So I just try and spit it out of my mouth?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, i'll do the channeling, you just expel." Came Gyuki's response.
Of course, it was a lot more complicated than just, 'spitting it out', and the clone spent the majority of his short life choking on squid ink.
The real Naruto arrived to Issei's place a little past 11pm. Walking inside he was pretty surprised to see some red head carrying Issei's bloody form.
The two teens stared at each other for a long moment.
"I can explain." She said stiffly.
"She doesn't mean to harm him, I don't sense any ill intent from her." Kurama supplied.
Well if that was the case.
Turning towards his door at the end of the hallway, Naruto sent one last look over his shoulder.
"That's fine, really." He said calmly, much to the relief of the older teen if the way her shoulders relaxed meant anything. "If you're still here in the morning though, do you mind telling him I'll be gone for a few days."
And with that he closed the door shut.
Rias was momentarily shocked at the ease he had just dismissed the whole situation, but the steady dripping of blood on the hardwood floor reminded her of what she was suppose to be doing.
Finishing her trek down the hall, she opened the door to Issei's room and prepared the long process of healing the boy.
Settling down under the covers, and letting her magic do its job, Rias couldn't help but be put off slightly.
If Uzumaki were gone, then how would she invite him into her peerage. She wasn't even sure when he was coming back.
However those were thoughts for a later date, right now she had more important matters to attend.
Like ignoring the feeling of someone else's blood all over her stomach.
Perhaps she should have done this in the tub.
AN: After reading some of the reviews I realized I actually didn't like the ending of the original draft either. So now I've edited it with a slight inkling of things to come.
Thanks to anyone who actually took the time to review, it only drives me to get the first chapters out for my other stories that much sooner.
As for updates, considering that writing the first half of this chapter I had only seen the anime, and now I've just picked up the light novel, this story probably won't be updated for some time. I need to read what's currently out if I want to get a plot hammered out.
That's about it.