(A/N)
Hello again everyone! I'm sorry that i neglected my story and kept you guys waiting. My genius butt decided to start writing this story just as i started my collage semester! Anyways, please enjoy and don't forget to send me a review! It would help me if i knew what you guys thought of it!
Proof of Power
It was a bright, beautiful morning that held the promise of a cloudless day. All the people in town were cheerful and optimistic about what the week would hold except for a certain blond sitting on a roof. Naruto sighed. How can it be that one and a half years have passed since I made the deal? It feels like it was just one month ago. He mused while fighting the thought that was lurking in the back of his thought won. Kyubi said I had to take the challenge this week since we're returning to Konoha next week. I'm as ready as I can be for it, so why am I so nervous? Kyubi certainly came through with the strong jutsu, even if I' m not allowed to show Ero-sennin.
He had grown leaps and bounds as a shinobi. The fox had taught him a way to connect a few of his shadow clones to his chakra reserves by splitting off a miniscule amount of his yin chakra and mixing it into Shadow Clones. This was accomplished this by Kyubi splitting Naruto's chakra into the two halves and then bonding the chakra together again. To say the procedure hurt was an understatement. It felt close to what he imagined being skinned alive would feel. The results, however, were worth the pain. He had four clones that could act, for the most part, like a real flesh and blood Naruto. He dared Sasuke and his sharingan tell the difference between him and his clones.
Kyubi had pressured him into asking Jiraiya to teach him fuinjutsu, saying that he thought Naruto had some natural talent for it. He was annoyingly correct, Naruto took to fuinjutsu like he breathed the stuff. Ero-sennin was baffled by his progress; he was building his own paper bombs after four days. Once he had the basics down Kyubi took over his training; starting on inventing a new seal. The new seal, Fuin: Chakra Body, was a big success. It allowed him to push chakra outside his body, then control it as though it was still inside his body. Granted, the control deteriorated after a foot. An unintentional side effect is it looked like a bad-ass full body tattoo that would glow azure blue when he activated it.
He broke out of his reverie when he heard Jiraiya stirring below in their room. He made a decision right then: he would take the challenge today. Why put it off any longer? He thought. I'm ready for this; a weeks worth of training wont make a difference. Besides, if I do it now perhaps I will disrupt whatever Kyubi's planning. He concluded with determination that could move mountains. First I got to deal with Ero-sennin. With that thought he got up and jumped down to the balcony of their room.
He slid open the door and greeted the bleary eyed Sennin. "How's it going Ero-sennin?" "Oh it's just greaat, I've got one hell of a hangover from last night and it won't go away!" Jiraiya moaned. Naruto just chuckled at his sensei. "How about we skip training today then? I can just mess around with some seals if I get bored and you can try to get back into shape for tomorrow's training." Naruto suggested. Jiraiya just nodded looking stunned that Naruto would forgo training for his sake. "Great! I'm already felling bored, so I'm going to go practice seals!" As he turned to leave, he felt Jiraiya's hand on his shoulder. He turned to face the toad Sennin. "Naruto, I just wanted to say thank you for what your doing" Jiraiya said with a soft smile on his face. "No problem sensei." He flashed one of his signature smiles as he shunshined out the way he came.
He landed in a clearing far from habitation- perfect for preparing himself. He started stripping down till he was naked. Then he made two shadow clones and had them start drawing the Fuin: Chakra Body on him. While they were busy, he focused on the back of his mind. 'Yo, you listening Furball?' 'What do you want Kit?' Kyubi growled back. ' I want to take the challenge.' He shot back. 'About damn time Kit, I was wondering if you were going to wait till the last moment possible' 'What do you mean by that!?' He shouted 'Never mind, let's get back to what exactly I'm doing; since you never told me.'
'Give me a second to check if your challenge has moved... Good, it's still in the same spot. Now while you get dressed I'll tell you what you'll be doing once we get there.' Naruto nodded while slipping his shirt on. 'Your objective is somewhat similar to the second part of the chunin exams. You are to keep a hold of an item for ten minutes. Be aware that the second you touch the item someone's going to be after you with intent to kill.' 'How strong is this person?' Naruto asked. 'Well... let's just say that I would not like facing him.' He shuddered upon hearing this. A few seconds later he finished getting dressed. 'I'm ready, so let's get this party started!' 'Alright I'll lead you to the item. You may want to use your Thunderclap shunshin for this.' 'You sure?' He got a grunt in affirmation. Naruto closed his eyes and went through a few hand seals ending on horse. "Cellular Strain" He murmured he felt as his body undergo a subtle transformation.
Cellular Strain, as the name suggests, pushed his cells to work harder and more efficiently past what any normal cells could handle. Luckily, the jutsu reenforced, with chakra, every aspect of his body: his cellular structure, his nervous and circulatory systems, everything. It made him faster, stronger, and more agile than he could ever hope to be on his own. The only downside was that, because he was using his chakra to enhance his cells, his chakra couldn't leave his body. Which meant only taijutsu and a select few others while it was active. The shunshin, it just so happens, was one of those that he could do. The speed at which his shunshin propelled him was astounding. All he left was a ripple of sound waves and a retort like thunder as the only indication that anyone was there a second ago.
Twenty seconds later he landed in front of a cliff wall eight miles away. Naruto looked around for this idol he was supposed to grab, but only saw trees and a cliff-side. 'What the hell Kyubi?' 'Calm down kit, you just need to channel some of my chakra into that cliff.' Naruto complied. Suddenly the cliff started crumbling. Naruto jumped back and covered his mouth from the dust cloud. Once the dust settled a man sized hole was revealed in the drastically changed cliff-side. 'Your challenge awaits.' Kyubi snickered from inside his head. Naruto just snorted at the fox's behavior and went inside the hole.
The hole turned out to be an entrance to a large cavern. It was dark; the only light source being some faintly glowing fungi on the walls and ceiling. As his eyes got used to the low light, he noticed there was what looked like a small personal shrine at the far end of the cave. He slowly approached it, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Nothing happened, no tripwires, no pitfall traps. That left him perplexed. If this item is worth killing me, then shouldn't there be some form of protection? Or is this a veiled insult from the hairball? He put that thought aside for later and examined the shrine. It was simple with nothing of note except a single opal bead in the center. 'That's what you need to protect.' Naruto just nodded and calmed himself for whatever happens.
He reached out and picked up the bead. Instantly the room dropped 10 degrees and Naruto heard something behind him. Or rather, he didn't hear anything, not the chirping of the bird outside or the wind blowing past the cave mouth. Apprehensive, he whirled around to find 'something' standing there. It looked like a rather large purple human in a white robe with an enormous amount of hair. That notion lasted until Naruto looked at the 'man's head. He had red horns sticking straight up out of his head, and solid black eyes. He also had a malicious smile showing past the tonto griped between his teeth. All in all he looked like a demon from a nightmare. 'Naruto, let me introduce you to your opponent, the Shinigami.'
(A/N)
That's the chapter guys, what did you think of it? on a side note, if there is anyone out there reading this who knows Japanese, i would be eternally grateful if you could translate my justu i made (i.e. Cellular Strain) into something awesome in Japanese! it dosen't have to be a literal translation either. feel free to get creative! just please send me an lose translation of what it means in Japanese if you don't do a literal translation.
