Eyes of Ice
Summary: Naruto changed after the death of Haku. No longer naive and optimistic, Naruto strives to do everything in his power to survive. With a changed Uzumaki, can Konoha still stand? More importantly, will Naruto still be loyal to a village that was unloyal to its own? Probably not, but you'll need to read to know for sure.
Chapter One: Unlocked Potential, through Death's Design
Naruto stood there, staring unwaveringly at Haku's grave. The rest of his 'team' had left a while ago, going inside to get some rest for the trip tomorrow, although Kakashi nodded in respect toward Zabuza and patted Naruto on the shoulder before leaving.
The idea of death had never been so real before. The idea that he could die, from anything like poison to a comrade's own misfire of kunai throwing, was chilling to him. He'd always ignored such feelings before, willing himself to ignore such things under the idea that He'd never die. That couldn't be him... But it nearly had been him.
If it hadn't been for Sasuke blocking what were surely fatal blows, he'd be dead. That particular thought made Naruto cringe, although the shock hadn't left his system. The words Zabuza had imparted also left their mark, the idea of just being a tool disgusting him beyond words.
Yet, he couldn't deny that thought process. He himself was proof of that, being a Jinchurriki. It was a word he'd been told when the Sandiame educated Naruto that he himself was not the Kyubbi, only its prison. He'd been given a life of hell on earth, to be a tool of war deterrence for a village that despised.
That infuriated him, immensely. Yet, the thought was tempered by the fact that ALL shinobi were considered tools, not just himself. A horrible thought, yes, but a comforting one. He had the flicker of an idea of changing that by becoming the best Hokage, but the Hokage had to be voted in. Who in their right mind would vote in a Jinchurriki?
Certainly not the Civilian Council and certainly not the rest of the Shinobi forces. It would be seen as an act of war to the rest of the villages that the idea of a Jinchurriki, already massively powerful in their own rights, had acclimated to gain that much more power to officially become the Kage on their own. It would drive the other villages to try and squish that village out of fear.
Still, if he couldn't be free by his own actions to the acceptance of others, then he'd be free regardless of their acceptance or fear. In fact, fear might even be better, even if he wouldn't like that option. Madara Uchiha was well respected in his many abilities of combat and ruthlessness, perhaps second only to the Shodaime Hokage himself.
Looking back on his thoughts and actions, Naruto shook his head lightly. He couldn't afford to be optimistic any more. It might just get him killed. He needed information, since he failed to gather much of anything in his Academy career. He jerked back slightly. He didn't remember tripping off of any rocks in that forest... His Shadow Clones?
He decided to test the theory. Muttering quietly with a single hand sign, Three Shadow Clones formed. They nodded to the original and left the scene. A few minutes later, and Naruto suddenly knew that one of his clones just got stabbed by a Kunai. It wasn't like a memory though: It was more like a split second film, watching coldly as a kunai thrust itself through his chest by another clone.
Amazing. His Shadow Clones could transfer information. However, and more importantly, Naruto had to think back on that information or else it would fade. The only reason why he remembered tripping over a rock was because no other clone had done the same action. Duplicate feeds would be removed.
He quietly dispelled the other two clones, considering the weight of what he just learned. This would increase his learning exponentially, if done correctly. He couldn't become a genius in, say, a week, but every day having a clone do a specific action and then thinking on that may just increase his learning.
This might help him recover lost time, and then some. With knowledge, Naruto would have a better idea of what to do to correct his actions, better understand how to better himself. Plus, he was curious to see if his Shadow Clones could master his chakra control. They essentially gained parts of his own reserves, so it would be viable.
Deciding to test this as well, he quickly summoned ten Shadow Clones. They'd be able to go up trees, as the original could do this, but what about other surfaces? He'd seen Zabuza standing on water, so perhaps that's feasible. He ordered them to practice doing these exercises slowly in the shallow pool to keep from dispelling. They nodded and left.
He went to a nearby tree in the meantime and began to take a nap while having Shadow Clones stand guard. Once he woke up, he went back over his memories, surprised to find three of himself able to stand on water, spar with each other briefly, and even able to do handstands as well. It seemed a lot easier to use chakra when the reserves were much smaller, so their control became easier.
Still, Naruto needed to see if he himself now held this skill. He went to the shallow water running through the river, and placed one step on the surface. He grinned as it held and stepped completely over the surface. He walked around normally on the surface of the water, subconsciously relegating chakra to where it was needed. He ran around in circles, before summoning fifteen clones and beginning a spar.
Noting the clear openings in his brawler stances, the clones tried to exploit them like an enemy would. Naruto winced as he was cut time and time again by his clones but he decimated them when he danced slightly out of their reach. He quickly returned to the river shore, noting that his cuts soon vanished. It seemed the higher his control, the higher his healing became. An amazing boon, if done right.
He quickly returned to his minor vigil in front of Haku's grave. Zabuza's sword remained as the headstone for his grave, while Haku received a simple kunai headstone. Personally, Naruto had the idea that all it would take was someone greedy enough to take the sword for it to go missing. A brief thought occurred to Naruto to take the items of worth from the two bodies below the ground, but Naruto decided it may be best to ask Kakashi-sensei first hand. He quickly sent a clone. May-have-been friends Haku and Zabuza they may be, but Naruto believed it would honor them more if he could use their weapons of choice effectively.
Kakashi appeared next to Naruto, saying quietly. "I heard your clone's question and I wanted to come here to ask you in person. Are you sure you wish to do this? I understand the need to honor their memory in this manner, but it's your choice. I wanted to hear it from you directly, Naruto."
Naruto breathed out heavily, feeling the mix of grief and clarity from his revelations. "I can't be naive and optimistic about this anymore. I've always shunned these ideas and thoughts, but this is necessary. I can't remain as I am and survive for a long time. The old me, the naive me, would abhor at the idea of taking a friends items from their dead bodies. Yet, the naive me would have died by Haku's senbon, believing that he would never die. I can't afford that. If I can honor them in the process by mastering their weapons and abilities, then it can be two birds with one kunai."
Kakashi nodded, before he made a series of hand signs and removed the earth covering their bodies. The stench of rot could clearly be smelled, but Naruto shook his head of the powerful urge to vomit. Kakashi didn't react at all, hinting that he was used to the smell of rotting, decaying, corpses.
Naruto summoned four Shadow Clones, directing them to strip the two missing ninja of all weaponry, items, and even clothing. Kakashi blinked in surprise before Naruto pointed out their clothing could make efficient armor if done correctly, to which Kakashi nodded in understanding.
Quickly and efficiently, said items were removed and sealed into a small empty scroll found on Zabuza's person. A similar scroll was used to seal away the sword being used as Zabuza's headstone, replaced by a similar kunai headstone. Dirt was placed back over the bodies with the similar jutsu from Kakashi.
"Naruto, you've grown up far faster than you had too, and I'm sorry for that. Of course, I'm willing to help you train with anything you need, within reason."
Naruto blinked before grinning slightly in thanks. He paused before saying quietly. "I need work on my Taijutsu, and I'd like scrolls on human anatomy, and such. I want to master Haku's senbon abilities, along with silent killing. Zabuza's sword may be powerful, but it's large bulk gives it away. I'm hoping to use its metal to form something akin to my use, after I look up its abilities that make it special."
Kakashi nodded before he returned to the house. Naruto remained there for a few moments before whispering thanks to the two missing ninja that shaped his life with their deaths. He left to sleep in a nearby tree.
The four-squad shinobi team left with a hero's goodbye, although Naruto said nothing except patting Inari on the head with a small grin. They left on their way to Konoha being a two-day trip.
Sasuke tried to banter with Naruto briefly, but Naruto remained silent, even as Sasuke tried to goad him. Sakura kept yelling how he was too stupid to pretend to be like Sasuke-kun, but Naruto still remained silent, occasionally flicking his hands at the wrist. Only Kakashi out of the other three knew that Naruto was directing nearby Shadow Clones to practice senbon on each other. His silence was less angst as it was concentrating on the near continuous feedback of clone popping.
Naruto found something interesting. His continuous use and training of his Shadow Clones lead to a deeper understanding of the jutsu. His Shadow Clones formed where he pulsed chakra, so he could summon them within a couple of feet of himself. The real trick was that he could pulse his chakra to form a clone, then further another pulse through that clone's form. In effect, with practice, Naruto could summon clones to take damage for clones near the area of attack. He could also harden their constructs with extra chakra, forming padding to stabilize them further.
This was useful as they could last much longer on senbon practice and spars. They couldn't last long against punches and kicks, but they could stop shuriken and kunai from going past them like wet paper. Useful if he needed them as a set of shields against weaponry.
He quietly thought further on the methods of his training. He couldn't train physically with his clones, as Kakashi pointed out they were only chakra constructs, not physical bits of himself. That didn't mean he couldn't learn how to throw senbon properly through observation, it just meant he'd still need to train a bit in order to gain muscle.
He still had the fatal flaw against Genjutsu, which frustrated him. There were only three main methods for non-Doujutsu Users, Kakashi informed him of them. First, was to halt all chakra in his body before expelling them forcefully. A brute method, but effective against some of the lower tier Genjutsu. Useless against Sasuke or any other Genjutsu casting Doujutsu user.
The second method was to have a team mate flood the chakra network with their own chakra, dispelling the Genjutsu. Effective, but only if the team mate could touch the person trapped. The third method was to use pain to jar the body out of dispelling the Genjutsu. Useful against all Genjutsu, but vastly ineffective against Doujutsu Users.
Effectively, Naruto was screwed royally against anyone wielding powerful eyes, i.e. Sasuke Uchiha and any Hyugga. That infuriated Naruto immensely, but an idea had formed. His Kage Bunshin was duplicates of himself, and held smaller reserves of his chakra. It would be possible to dispel Genjutsu through his Clones dispelling themselves or by channeling a small amount of his own chakra.
Much to Naruto's glee, that worked brilliantly when he tested it with Kakashi's permission. Kakashi used a high tier Genjutsu using the Sharingan implant he held, Sharingan: Dispersion of Mind Genjutsu and Naruto immediately broke out of it when a clone dispelled two seconds later from nearby. Naruto crowed with joy and success, and Kakashi chuckled along with him.
Naruto also had a similar idea from his experiences earlier. Back when he was testing his chakra control with ten clones, they learned chakra control much faster, and had smaller reserves. He explained the thought process to Kakashi that perhaps it was possibly for him to learn Genjutsu via his clones learning it and using it. Kakashi admitted he had no idea, as he neither tried the idea, and depended on his Sharingan to cast Genjutsu. He'd promised to check up with Kurenai, the resident Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha.
They soon reached the gates of Konoha, with the infamous Eternal Chunin welcoming them in. Naruto quietly nodded in their direction while discretely dispelling all the Shadow Clones currently training. He silently drifted through the memories, assimilating them into himself before moving in step with the rest of the group.
Once they gave their reports to the Hokage, the Hokage gave them a full S-rank pay for surviving, and gave them the week off to recover from their ordeals. Naruto nodded jerkily before leaving abruptly. He had no need or desire to stay in the same room as the one who may have manipulated him into service.
He quickly left to the training ground seven, as they now had a designated training ground. Sasuke was there practicing his kunai throwing, using his newfound Sharingan to perfect his aiming. Naruto considered annoying the Uchiha, but decided against it. He had his own training methods he needed to do.
Once he reached far enough to a nearby pond, Naruto quickly summoned forth a good forty Shadow Clones. They nodded before they quickly assembled into pairs of three. One would try and cast a Genjutsu; the other would also try and cast a Genjutsu. The one in the middle was there to break them out of a Genjutsu if they succeeded.
Nothing seemed to happen for a few hours, with some of the paired clones popping from chakra exhaustion, having exhausted their small reserves into the air to cast a Genjutsu. Naruto decided to train, doing pushups and jumping jacks. He very rarely got tired, but he could increase the speed of his limbs with practice.
After a while, a pair popped again with some chakra remaining. Naruto halted, before grinning. The Genjutsu was a simple one, causing the clone to feel a heavy desire to sleep, which most shinobi could easily break out of, but it meant success. He quickly dispelled the rest before summoning twenty Shadow Clones. They'd pair up into sets of two and work on casting more powerful Genjutsu.
Soon enough, it was nearing evening, and Naruto would need to get some rest. He asked the clones for reports, and they reported that while they could continuously pulse chakra into another clone, their bodies would either pop from too much chakra attacking the constructs, even with the heavy padding they all held now, or the chakra pulses were too irregular in size to be effective.
Naruto nodded, before dismissing them all. He'd need something more alive than a clone. He'd need a person to be able to practice. Hopefully this 'Genjutsu Mistress' may be of enough assistance. He set himself against a nearby tree, sleeping there with a set of clones as watch guards. Chakra constructs didn't need to sleep, often feeding off of their reserves for energy.
A small poke caused Naruto to flare his eyes open and flip right out of his post. He landed on the ground, nearly flinging a kunai. The clone that had poked him blinked before chuckling and pointing at the sun. It was clearly mid-morning, about ten by the judge of the sun's position. Nodding in thanks, Naruto dispelled the guards.
He blinked when he suddenly saw a black haired woman on the nearby tree, scowling at him. She spoke quietly, unhappy. "I knew Kakashi stated you could break Genjutsu through dispelling clones, but the fact that you can is surprising. It means you have a massive reserve of chakra enough to cause ripples in your own network. You stated a theory about using clones with smaller reserves to cast Genjutsu?"
Naruto nodded, shaking off the surprise. He quickly demonstrated using forty clones with much smaller reserves as mass demonstration. Rather than the impressed looks he usually was able to gleam for having such vast amount of chakra, the woman, Kurenai if he remembered correctly, scowled even further. She motioned him to dispel the clones, before speaking once he'd done so.
She spoke to him coldly. "I can't help you. That size of chakra reserves can't do more than cast simple genjutsu, which is impressive for one such as yourself, but I'm afraid nothing more can be done. I suggest investing in what is obviously your preferred skill, Ninjutsu."
She turned to leave, but Naruto's statement cut her off.
"I don't know if you hate me for being a Jinchurriki or for having too much chakra, but the fact that it could be either disgust me of your presence. More so, your inability to at least offer some critique on how to improve doesn't just make you pathetic, it also means you shouldn't be considered a 'Mistress' of anything. Goodbye, Kurenai. Don't let the dirt on your precious shoes of glass harm you on the way out."
She turned around quickly, eyes bright with fury. She made a series of hand signs, but Naruto already summoned another fifty clones as insurance. Sure enough, Naruto winced at seeing a vast fireball falling from above. A twitch, and Naruto was standing before Kurenai again, whom scowled at her Genjutsu failing.
He stated quietly, coldly. "I see. It's not me. It's you. I've stung your precious pride, that I could break your abilities despite your thinking of my lack of ability in your own expertise. It makes you furious, and it makes you feel both weak and worthless. Truthfully, you are indeed both weak and worthless. Sasuke uchiha could outstrip you the moment he has his Sharingan matured entirely, and I already outstrip you by tearing every piece of your work down to nothing."
Her scowl further deepened before she said scathingly.
"I've had to work for my abilities. I had to strive pouring every moment in my studies and my chakra in order to get to where I am. The Uchiha's gain it out of sheer blood and you are no different with your large reserves and luck. It's not fair for the rest of us."
Naruto chuckled darkly, before he stated quietly.
"It may have escaped your notice, Miss Kurenai-of-My-Life-Isn't-Perfection-and-Ease, but life isn't fair. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can live your life without looking down on others and yourself. You think I like being a Jinchurriki? My life is bad enough being a pariah, but knowing my very existence is viewed as a War Deterrent, that all my value is built upon War, is especially upsetting. You know what made me feel better?"
Naruto stalked forward, cold even strides with his eyes flaring brightly at Kurenai's own, while she continued to step back until she ended up against a tree. He stepped forward until their faces were merely inches apart, with her eyes showing slight fear despite being taller than himself.
"That we are all tools, tools to our Kages, whom are tools to their people, whom are tools to their own subconscious minds and desires. In the end, everyone is a tool, at the very least to their minds and emotions. Such as yourself, with your own misgiven pride."
He paused, taking a breath before finishing flatly. "That's why I wanted to learn Genjutsu, why I wanted to learn how to manipulate the mind. The one who can manipulate the best isn't the one with the stronger, more imperviable Genjutsu. It's the one who understands what makes humanity tick, and how to exploit that ticking. Who better to do that than a Jinchurriki, whose very name means 'Power of the Human Sacrifice'?"
She cringed slightly before regaining her composure and glaring at him. She seethed out.
"I'm going to report you for insubordination, you little brat."
Naruto snorted, before grinning darkly. "You know what I needed before you came here, Kurenai-san? I needed a live human to test my Genjutsu on a higher level. I'm sure you won't mind. I mean, it is your specialty, isn't it?"
Kurenai flinched back before she said "No, I'm leaving." She turned to leave... and found she couldn't move.
Naruto smirked at her, before crooning to her like she was a puppy. "I hope you don't mind, I've been studying human anatomy at the bequest of a friend I could've had, but he died recently and gave me wonderful senbon as a gift. You won't be able to move for a good four hours, and by then, I might even learn how you tick at a personal level."
She whimpered as Naruto cackled quietly, his blue eyes cold and unwavering.
Naruto said quietly, glee hidden under a voice of smooth determination.
"Let's Begin."
End Chapter One
A/N: What'd you think? I'm hoping it's not a bad start. I tried to make the nigh-illogical world of jutsu and such a bit more reasonable. Did I pass? Fail? Let me know. :)