Chapter Three
Mad Skillz
"What the hell were you thinking?! Someone could have gotten seriously injured! You could have gotten Sakura hurt!"
"I didn't know that was going to happen! I never used it like that before... I didn't even think it was going to work," he heartily defended.
"Well it did!
"What... was it?" A curious masked Jounin asked.
"It was something my clones picked up from their travels," the blond answered.
"Which was...?" The Jounin asked again.
"Fuuton: Bunshin Bakuhatsu no Jutsu." (Wind Style: Clone Detonation/Explosion)
"Really, that's it?" The side-tracked Hokage asked, now looking slightly impressed, stealing a glance at his finger.
"But that is a short range technique... The blast radius was enormous. And its status wasA-rank... Now I'd say it is S-rank," informed Kakashi, joining Tsunade with being impressed.
"Never before have I seen such strong winds from a simple explosion..." He continued, more professionally.
"Well I combined it with my wind manipulation... It was my first time trying it like that so I didn't think it would work, but since it did..." Naruto took on a look of deep contemplation for a moment before looking unexplicably excited, causing a few raised eyebrows in the room.
"All that wind wasn't just from the explosion..." Before he could finish, Tsunade and even Kakashi suddenly went slack jawed with disappointment at his obvious deduction but were soon intrigued by his explanation.
"... If the explosion itself doesn't stop the target, then all that dust kicked up from that wind could be used as cover for further attack or even escape, if neccessary," becoming engrossed in this newfound tactic, his mind started racing with possibilities.
"Ahem," Tsunade cleared her throat to regain her authority as well as the blond boy's attention. Understandably, it took a second try before Naruto came out of his trance.
"Obviously, you couldn't control it yet. I do not want you practicing that technique anywhere near this Village. If you are to continue with this technique, you must be at least one mile away from any popultated areas. Understood?"
Naruto simply looked at her, dumbfounded that she would even suggest that he 'might not' further train this new jutsu. Finally, he nodded his head in compliance.
By now, Tsunade's and Kakashi's astonished faces were long gone as they had regained their composure.
Sakura, on the other hand, just stood there, still dazed from the effects of witnessing his new jutsu first-hand. She was a bit bruised and scraped up, but otherwise okay.
"So... You are already implementing it into other techniques?" Kakashi asked, looking as emotionless as usual behind his mask.
"Of course!" Naruto sounded promptly, if not cocky.
"The rest of your are dismissed," Tsundade interrupted. The accompanying ANBU vanished.
Shino still stood in the background, awaiting his turn.
"Can I help you?" Tsunade sounded impatiently at his ignorance of her dismissal.
"I wish to speak with Naruto about his... search."
Tsunade's look of irritation subsided as she remembered the order she gave him to find the blond to speak to him about his findings. She had only wished he wasn't here because she knew she was soon about to endure another Naruto-induced headache.
Said blond turned his full attention on the bug-boy.
"Go ahead," the blond woman motioned him, flapping her hand at him casually.
"Naruto, have any of your clones been to the Earth Country yet, by any chance?"
Taking a second to search his memories, he answered, "No, it was the last place on my list. I almost made it there earlier today before my clone was attacked," he revealed nonchalantly.
"Attacked?" Tsunade and Kakashi enquired at once.
"Yeah, it was nothing." he replied in another dull tune that would have rivaled that of Shikamaru. "Why do you ask?"
"Hmm... I saw someone who resembled you. I knew your clones were traversing through the different countries under henge, so I thought it may have been you."
"What did this person look like, exactly?" Asked the now interested blond Hokage. She and Shino had only, spoken briefly about his findings so any real detail of the said mystery person was of yet, unknown to her.
Naruto was starting to get fidgety, clearly trying to hold in his easily mustered anticipation.
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"Seishin Manako!"(Mind's Eye) The blond readied herself, activating her newfound Kekkai Genkai.
"I'm coming, prepare yourself!" Yelled the dark haired woman.
"Sanposeishin no Jutsu!"(Mindwalk Technique)
The dark haired woman threw out a few swift chakra powered punches and kicks, nearly connecting with her target.
"It's no use. I know what you are going to do before you do it!" The blonde gloated.
"It doesn't matter whether you know what I'm going to do or not if you're too slow to stop it...!" With that said, the dark haired woman spun around on her heel and aimed a kick to the blond girl's chest. It was blocked by two arms in a defensive position.
"Ugh!"
"Told you. You need to learn to combine your techniques..." The woman chastised.
After only few more minutes of sparring, the blond gave it a try.
"Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu!" (Mind-Blow Technique) Through the sheer look of concentration on the girl's face and the slightly trembling arms and legs, the mental and physical strain on her body was clearly visible as the inexperienced kunoichi combined her jutsus with Sanposeishin already activated.
"Don't overdue it!" Through her warning, the dark haired woman charged back in relentlessly.
With a renewed look of determination, the blonde activated one of the properties of her newly activated jutsu.
The charging woman adopted look of surprise as her knee unwillingly buckled beneath her. As an experienced kunoichi, she took the fall and rolled with it. Using the gained momentum from the fall, she turned the roll into a flip as she pushed off the ground with both hands. With quick skilled action, she was now soaring just inches above the blond's head.
With a chakra controlled tap to the side of the blond's head, her already exhausted mind easily succumbed to her will and she was harmlessly knocked unconscious.
"Phew... Almost lost that time..." the dark haired woman revealed to herself, slightly out of breath.
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"C'mon Baa-chan! You gotta let me go! You heard what bug-boy said!"
Behind Naruto, Shino audibly snorted at the comment while Tsunade held back a laugh at his reaction to the blond's comment.
Tsunade let out a defeated sigh. She had once told Naruto that she couldn't let his real self leave without a definate lead... This just so happened to be one of those times. They had a lead. She said she would let him go if it came to that, but she honestly thought it would never come to that.
"Alright, Naruto," Tsunade complied with a hopeless sigh, "But only if Shino accompanies you."
"What?! Not him!" Naruto complained, shamelessly pointing an index finger at Shino with distaste in her decision. "He's boring!" He reasoned stupidly.
"Ok, fine. You can stay here," she replied with a smug look on her face.
"What?!" He said again, suddenly bug-eyed.
"Then it's settled. Shino will go with you since he knows the layout better than you do... especially since you don't know it at all..." She added derisively.
"Fine," he complied with bitter distaste.
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Several minutes later, Naruto, accompanied with Shino, managed to find a worried looking Hinata amongst the crowd of people who were now inspecting the destruction of the training grounds caused by Naruto only thirty minutes ago.
"Ah, Hina-hime!" He called out to her.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called back, looking most relieved and taken aback at her new nickname.
Kiba, who had shown up only minutes before, looked at him in disgust. "What are you doing here, loser?"
"Shut up, dog breath. Hey Hina-"
"W-What happened here? I knew you were training h-here a little while ago. When I saw this d-destruction, I became so worried!" She asked with pleading eyes and hands clasped together at her chest.
"Oh that, hehe... That was me, my bad. Didn't mean to worry you."
Upon hearing this revelation, Kiba nearly shit his pants. "You did this?!" He asked incredulously, waving an arm at the training grounds.
"Yeah, dog-boy. Now shut your yap so I can talk..."
Kiba looked appalled. "How strong has he gotten?" He asked himself inwardly.
"Anyways, Hina-chan. I got a mission. I'll be going to the Earth Country to check a lead on my family."
"Y-You got a lead? T-That's great!" She replied with less stutter.
"Yeah, but I have no idea when I'll be back..."
Hinata's excitement was suddenly shot back down to earth. "T-That's ok. I'll be waiting," she replied with even less stutter and more sadness.
Naruto gave her a genuine smile and pecked a kiss on her lips. "Bye, Hinata-hime." With his cool ninja skills, Naruto was gone in a flash with Shino close behind.
Hinata was left blushing madly with a furiously jealous Kiba behind her. They had never shown their affection in public before and being called a princess...
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An hour later, Naruto and Shino were at the North gates of Konoha after they were done preparing for departure.
"Let's go," Shino said dryly.
"Yosh!" The excited blond replied.
Several miles later, Shino actually said something...
"I sense someone."
"You're just barely sensing him?" Naruto asked skeptically. Behind his sunglasses, Shino furrowed his brow in silent disbelief.
"That's my clone. I sent him out only a few hours ago."
"I see," he replied cooly, turnong his gaze back to the front.
"I didn't think I'd be following behind him so soon. I guess now he can be our guide in case anything happens ahead of us."
Shino merely nodded in agreement. The rest of that day was unnaturally quiet with Naruto there.
"He's stopping?"
"So?" Replied Naruto.
"Why?"
"It's dark... He may be a clone, but he's still gotta rest or else he'll disperse if he's too fatigued," Naruto answered in an all-knowing sort of tone.
"Then perhaps we should stop as well so as to keep him ahead of us. There's no rush."
"Mm," Naruto nodded in agreement.
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"You gotta be kidding me? It was obvious. He liked you!"
"No, he did not... I would know, I experienced it first. You only saw it in my mind," she said, tapping her temple for good measure.
"He was totally hitting on you. You were too focused on that boring guy."
"He wasn't boring! He was just... serious all the time."
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that..." She retorted with a chuckle.
"I will! Besides, it doesn't matter now... None of it does..." She added sadly.
"Why?"
"Because... They're all..."
Knowingly, she put two and two together. "Oh... how?"
"I... don't know for sure. I didn't stick around..."
"Wha..." The blonde looked at her in disbelief. "So you just assumed..."
The other woman shot her a death glare, immediately stopping her in her tracks.
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"The Kyuubi Jinchuriki is on the move. He is being accompanied with one other. Now is the best time to move in."
"Very well," replied a voice in a dry tone.
Red clouded cloaks fluttered as they moved out.
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Morning light was shining through the trees and birds were chirping their happy songs. A soft breeze carried through the forest, stirring up a few leaves and rustling a few hairs.
"Get up. Your clone is already on the move."
"Huh? I, uh...(yawn) He woke up before me?" Naruto asked groggily in disbelief.
"Yes. Get your gear. We're moving out. He is several hours ahead of us already."
"Man... (yawn) I'm good... Ow! Something bit me!" Naruto snapped his eyes open to see a small black thing flying away back to Shino's open palm. "Did you just-"
"No. It did. I would not put my mouth on something so unsanitary," Shino answered before he could finish.
Naruto could have sworn he heard the tiniest amount of laughter in his voice. He was too caught up in it to even make a come back.
Reluctantly, Naruto got up and prepared to leave. Before slinging his bag over his shoulder, he pulled out a package. Upon opening it, it revealed a dried ramen snack... barbeque flavor.
They jumped into the trees with Naruto thoroughly enjoying his half-assed breakfast. It wasn't long before Naruto finished his 'snack' and was soon eating another.
"Say... Shino?" The blond started, looking at his food thoughfully.
"Hm...?"
"What do you eat? I've never seen you eat... that's if you eat."
"Of course I eat. How else would I gain sustenance?"
"Susten- what?"
"Sus-te-nance."
"Who talks like that anymore?" Naruto snorted.
Shino merely let out a resignating sigh. He was beginning to really see what his team disliked about him. To his dismay, Naruto was still talking.
"-and then there's one of my favorites, pork ramen. But you you can never forget Beef ramen, either. That's a good one. The only thing I dont like about ramen is cooking it. It takes too long!
The best thing about ramen is the broth-"
Though he couldn't help wonder how the topic changed to ramen, Shino was once again ignoring the blabbering blond. It's not like he woud notice anyways...
"-Hey, are you even listening?"
He noticed.
"No," Shino replied bluntly and truthfully.
"Wha-"
"I do not want to talk about ramen. I do not want to hear about ramen. I do not like ramen," Shino let loose, but still in his usual dry tone. In all actuality, he never tasted ramen before, but hearing Naruto talk about it made him sick of it.
"You don't like ramen?! Have you ever even had ramen?!" Naruto asked in disbelief. As he was saying it, he was already pulling another 'snack' out of his bag. "If you don't like ramen, you never had this before..." Naruto held the snack in his outstretched hand.
With a twitch of his eyebrow, a small swarm of Shino's bugs destroyed the snack just like they had done to the flying piece of earth the other day.
Shino's attention was drawn ahead while Naruto shot him dirty looks and sounded off remarks about "wasting ramen."
"He's stopping again?"
"So?"
"Why?"
"Probably a piss break..."
Shino looked at him incredulously from behind his sunglasses.
"What? He's a copy of me. He pees too you know... Speaking of which, I never took one of those when I woke up..." With that said, Naruto hopped off the next branch to stop behind a few bushes. A minute later, he reappeared on a branch close to Shino's.
"Ahhhh, much better."
"Disgusting..."
"What? It's natural."
"Stop talking."
Naruto groaned and mumbled something along the lines of 'uptight'.
The rest of the day stayed silent. The next day, they would be nearing the borders of the Fire and Grass Countries. At their slow pace for ninjas, it was only natural they had gotten there already.
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"You're doing great... I think. It's amazing you almost have that other skill completely mastered... well for the most part. It's not like I can let you do a full test on me... I have no idea how all this is supposed to work but you seem to be mastering these techniques rather quickly," a dark haired woman said to the blond.
"Thanks, but you have no idea how much strain it is putting on me, even though I haven't done anything physically," replied the other woman as she came out of her jutsu.
"I have a much larger idea of what you are going through than you may think..." She thought to herself. "What did you see this time?"
"... I only caught a few scrambled glimpses this time. Disturbing ones..." A quick glance at her sensei told her it was okay to continue.
"Your team was on a mission... The boy was dying," she said slowly and sadly, "He said, 'give it to him'." Giving her sensei a moment to adjust, she asked the painfully obvious question, "What was he talking about?"
The dark haired woman took in a sharp breath of air. Her eyes started tearing up almost immediately. "Uh..."
"Oh, that's okay! You don't have to tell me... Sorry."
"Mm. It's dark. Let's go home," she suggested. "Well you have certainly almost mastered 'Sanposeishin' but thanks for not using it just now to take your answer."
"What make's you think I didn't?"
The dark haired woman looked at the blond skeptically.
"I'm not that weak. I may not be able to see what you see when you see it... yet, but I can still sense when you enter my mind," she answered.
A/N: I think I may have went a little OOC with Naruto earlier. I hope it turns out okay.
Honestly, I think I may be over doing it with the explanation of the jutsus below. I think it may spoil any furture plans of surprising you with their abilities... so I will fix that right now... there, fixed.
You guys may be thinking that this Kekkai Genkai is way too strong, but trust me, it has some serious drawbacks that make up for that, afterall, I created it myself as well as the jutsus.
Whether or not they have been thought of before, I do not know. I only take credit for what they do, not for how they're named.
Anyways. Tell me what you guys think.
Wind Style: Clone Detonation/Explosion (Fuuton: Bunshin Bakuhatsu no Jutsu) - Clones can be detonated above or underground or as weapons, no longer needing the use of a bomb scroll. The size of the explosion depends on how many clones are used in it's detonation. Combined with Naruto's Wind Manipulation, the destruction could be limitless.
As it turns out, this skill has already been taken by Itachi but I just added wind manipulation to it. It's original name and description are as follows: Clone Great Explosion (Bunshin Daibakuha) - This jutsu works in combination with the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Replication Technique), and basically creates a Shadow Replication that will also explode on command, potentially killing or injuring those caught in the blast.
I found this jutsu at /jutsu-guide.php (just thought I'd site my source in case any of you were wondering)
Mind's Eye (Seishin Manako) - A very powerful Kekkai Genkai if expertly used. With visible access to a targets eyes, one is capable of dealing great amount of damage after entering their mind. Once enabled, it requires a constant supply of chakra to stay active, thus making it more difficult if you dont get the job done right away. Using any jutsu orientated with this Kekkai Genkai increases chakra usage and mental strain until that particular jutsu is deactivated. The user must maintain eye-contact in order to do continuous damange while skill is active.
Mindwalk Technique (Sanposeishin no Jutsu) - Simply go into a person's mind to read their thoughts or memories. So long as you don't stay too long, a weak willed mind will not notice your presence. It takes a very strong mind to break the bond forcibly. (Add's to chakra usage and mental strain)
Mind-Blow Technique (Seishin-Dageki no Jutsu) - A variation of the Mindwalk Technique but on a more complex level.Uses a mind type jutsu to explore the mind of the target and attack them from within if they choose to do so (which would be a waste of chakra if you only use this to explore a mind). Effects could vary from simply looking in the memories of a person to actually removing memories, such as on how to fight, talk, or even stand (temporary!). It could even go as far as... beep beep beep beeeeeep beep beep-- Sorry guys, had to cut that out. Don't wanna spoil anything for you... or me. (Add's to chakra usage and mental strain)
Sorry, that was alot. Hope I didn't bore you.
Until Next Time...