Chapter 3: History Lessons and Kenjutsu
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other reference I used in this fanfiction. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and the references used belong to their respective owners.
A/N: So here's another chapter for you And I also hope you don't get frustrated with this chapter cause It's got a few long paragraphs here and there but I assure you that unlike most Naruto fics, these ones are necessary(In my perspective of course).
Speech- "Naruto, where are you going?"
Thoughts- 'I wonder where Naruto is going'
(Bold letters mean serious business or bijuu stuff, pretty sure you guys know how this works already)
Chapter 3: History Lessons and Kenjutsu
(Location: Naruto's Hideout in Konoha)
Naruto looked at the four bound men in front of him. Cuts, burns and bruises were found all over them. It had been a day since naruto's ramen hangout with his teammates.
These men were only a few of Orochimaru's spies planted inside Konoha. Naruto had scoured Konoha looking for spies lurking inside its walls. He knew it was a dangerous move as the Hokage had already assigned anbu's for this job all over the village but he was determined to find some for himself as he had a lot of purpose for these individuals. Every village had their own sleeper agents hidden from their eyes, this was an unavoidable fact that no village could deny even to the five great hidden villages. There was just too much things to account for that it was impossible to defend a village on all sides, though this does't mean that the villages do not have precautionary steps taken should these people try to do something against the village.
Naruto's search was a success as he found four individuals who were actually spies of Orochimaru hidden in Konoha. Sensory Ninjutsu coupled with Fuinjutsu did wonders for this project. He had found four prospective persons who contained a minutely tainted chakra that was no doubt the work of the incomplete Cursed Seal of Earth. The seals seemed to be weakened and sealed away due to probable failure, He hypothesized that the individuals were left to Konoha as sleeper agents to send Orochimaru regular updates about the village. These individuals were Chunnin level but probably got through experience and not talent, their age would suggest so as the youngest was about 25 and the oldest being 35. They didn't seem to have kept up their training too.
Naruto had grown more careful during his stay, he had considered all factors that could affect his capture of the individuals and covered up most of the holes his plan had before executing it, there was never a perfect plan, Naruto knew that so he settled for the next best thing. He had learnt of their plan to meet up and compile the data before sending it to Orochimaru and this was when he executed his plan. The result was a success, He procured four persons without alerting the anbu or the Hokage by creating fake scenario that made the public believe that these people burnt to ashes on an incident after eating together on a bar in the red district. Naruto made up the scenario that the four had gotten 'drunk' and started 'fighting' against each other which started the fire and trapped them on the building. The incident didn't have other 'casualties' other than the four but it did leave a few injured civilians, most of which were the drunk ones who wasn't able to escape fast enough when the four juked out their techniques. There was no witness to how the fight ended but the witness to how it started was actually manipulated by Naruto with his ways to tell the anbu that the four had gotten drunk and started fighting. The ashes were suspected to be blown off by the wind as it was a windy night during that incident. The anbu and nearby ninja's could have come to rescue with a few Suiton jutsu's but Naruto had already taken steps for that. Naruto held pity to the restaurant as it was he who actually caused their fall so he sent cash to them as a mystery benefactor
"I'm telling you the truth, we already told you all that we know about Orochimaru. Were just his minions so we don't have much information. Please release us we still have our families waiting for us outside!" The man begged Naruto with tears dripping in his eyes. Naruto didn't have to hide his identity as he had already taken all precautionary measures for security. These people were done for already; Naruto decided that, when he captured them. He could not risk the leak of information lead the enemy to him should this four find a way to escape.
"Do you really think I'd fall for that lie? I have researched every one of you carefully down to the smallest details. You four have no bonds in this village. You have friends but I doubt you consider them true friends; you probably befriended a few just to cover yourselves from suspicion. The fact that you work for Orochimaru is a testament to what you really are" Naruto said.
"If you already knew that and got what you wanted from us, then why won't you just kill us!" The same man who was previously begging was now shouting, forgoing his façade of weakness, they had pleaded Naruto too many times to remember and they were losing their hope for escape. Even if they escaped, Konoha would sure be fast to capture them. They had thought of telling Konoha about this brat after escaping just to screw him up but then, the same brat painted a seal on them that made them forget anything they learn about him every few hours. This was the same to the information's they revealed about Orochimaru too, which memories about got blurry but not forgotten. It was starting to create gaps on their memory and they were starting to lose their sanity.
"Unfortunately for you four, I have even more important purpose for you than the information you hold about your boss. You see, I can't use civilians for my projects and resea rch. That would be cruel, we ninja exist to protect them. However, you four have done the opposite. You said you were ordered to send orphans to an old warhawk, some civilians who became missing were actually caused by you and also, divulging information to an enemy should be enough grounds for execution" Naruto's tone unnerved the four. They were actually thinking if this kid would do the same experiments Orochimaru did to his less fortunate subjects.
"Don't worry; I don't do experiments like how Orochimaru does. I have no need to tinker the organs of a human body nor do I want to reach immortality. I just simply want to test some of my new creations so that I can be sure they are failsafe when used in combat. Like they say, better you than me" Naruto's demeanour was carefully controlled.
He had been uneasy at first to the notion of using live persons as test subjects. However, he figured that his capabilities would be bound to stagnation if he could not practice without these subjects. While his body itself was more durable compared to even the most seasoned ninjas due to his state of being a Jinchūriki and his lineage, there is always risk of injury and even death if he failed the experiments when done to himself. Naruto had reached the rank of a Grandmaster without being able to use much of offensive seals as he had little way to little ways to apply it. Most of the seals he had been able to concoct were ones that augmented his abilities rather than harm his enemies. Although Naruto does NOT remember, Kaguya was the only possible enemy for him to test his offensive seals, most of which were shrugged off by her. And so, his progress on the offensive area of his Fuinjutsu was put to a halt.
His situation right now was favourable to him though, with no one looking for these people and with him finally "ok" with the notion of human experimentation(with Fuinjutsu of course). He should be able to progress even more in the art of Fuinjutsu even more.
"Hey what are you doing?! Stop that! Remove that thing from me!" One of the bound persons screamed as Naruto put a complex seal tag on his forehead and performed a couple of handseals.
"Let us see if this one is effective or defective, "Fuin: Demon's Hunt Illusion!" Naruto finished his string of handseals and watched his experiment perform its part. The man's eyes started to widen. Naruto walked to the man and he cut of his binds as a part of the experiment.
This new seal that Naruto developed actually falls more into Genjutsu rather than Fuinjutsu. However, Naruto chakra control couldn't be applied to Genjutsu so this Seal utilized and manipulated the enemies' chakra against themselves. The Seal created illusion of demons(yokai) around the target, their numbers and figure changed depending on the mental resilience of the person and continued to supply the illusion until a certain amount of chakra infused to the seal is used up or overridden by the enemy. The seal manipulates the pain sensors of the body to create a true feeling of pain that while it gave no injuries, the mental stability of the enemy should crumble down if it was executed perfectly making it easier for Naruto to capture the target which was his reason for the creation of this seal. There were a few restrictions to the seal though. The maximum amount of chakra Naruto could infuse to it was equivalent to that of an A rank technique (Jounin level) or else it would be unstable and not work like how it should, Naruto couldn't also infuse the chakra prematurely and it required a mental link to the seal as such he couldn't utilize his chakra for other purposes, Naruto could evade and perform attacks but he couldn't cut the unconscious link lest the technique would come to an end. The technique had no negative drawbacks other than that though and it created an illusion equivalent to a High Jounin level illusion so it was well worth the effort to make it. It was still on its experimental stages though and those stats should have been 'how' it should work should it be finalized.
Naruto pondered for a bit. He found it strange that he could do Medical Jutsu but couldn't apply Genjutsu.
"You can't do Illusions without the help of seals Naruto; it is not about you but rather about me. Even if you have enough control to perform Medical Jutsu, it still would not be enough to perform Genjutsu. You will never have enough control for Genjutsu. That doesn't just apply to you, but to all Jinchūriki" The deep voice of Kurama spoke from inside him, his tone dripping of boredom. The experimented man suddenly darted around the base without a true sense of direction. The seal was taking effect.
"Why?" Naruto inquired vocally, he had no fear of discovery inside his lair and found it troublesome to exert effort to reply mentally. Naruto was a hardworking ninja but he had his moments of laziness too.
"With enough control and mental conditioning, a Jinchūriki is able to harmonize our kind's chakra with their own and create a balanced chakra that can be used for reinforcement or healing. However, while reinforcement and healing is possible, the other person on the receiving end should never constantly receive the chakra on prolonged amounts of time. While the impurities of the bijuu chakra can be put to minimum, they can never be fully cleansed thus will accumulate till they have enough to harm the receiver"
"What? How is that? I may not remember how or when it happened but I know that I can reinforce my allies with my Senjutsu enhanced-Jinchūriki chakra" He was telling the truth about not remembering how or when it happened but Naruto knew this was a risky statement that had a lot of holes, he was hoping that the beast would think that he was referring to Naruto's previous self memories(Ashura) who used Ninshu to and NOT "Senjutsu enhanced-Jinchūriki chakra".
"Tsk, figures. While you have learnt a lot of things and remembered a few from your past lives, you still forgot to check up how things work the long run" Kurama allowed Naruto to ponder on his words for a bit and opted to observe the experiment through Naruto's eyes. The man whipped out his imaginary kunai which was included in the illusion so that it would give him some sort of defence. He started slashing around thin air and screaming as if he struck something.
Naruto's eyes widened considerably as realization struck him "Wait! So you are saying that reinforcing allies on long periods of time can cause harm in the long run. With the basis of how tainted bijuu chakra affected me before I'll just assume that their lifespans are reduced with each passing moment of use!"
The kyuubi grinned and showed his feral tooth's "Now there's the intellect I've been looking for. Yes, the cleansed chakra boosts their abilities and grants immense healing properties at the cost of lifespan. It may not take much but it won't change the fact. The Jinchūriki are given their beasts at an early age for a reason. The higher the number of tails of the bijuu, the younger the person should be as their chakra pathways will need time to adjust accordingly. This will lead to their body at an older age being already adjusted to the influx of the foreign chakra. When the beast and the jailor harmonizes with one another, the improved chakra quality would then no longer have negative effects to the Jinchūriki who was already used to the more volatile version of the bijuu chakra, the other people who have not received the same amount of conditioning like the Jinchūriki received will never have the same benefits as them, why do you think berserk Jinchūriki have their flesh receive great burns when using bijuu chakra opposed to ones that have great connection with their beast?" The man in the background started firing low level Ninjutsu's though it seems that the said man noticed they had little effect so he opted back to manual fighting. Naruto had to move the other prisoners to another location lest they be harmed, they had wide eyes now as they observed their leader fighting against thin air.
Naruto spoke after the prisoners have been relocated "Tsk, I always knew something was wrong with that method. Wait…How does that matter to the fact that I can't do Genjutsu?"
"Listen to this Naruto. The bijuu chakra is poisonous and toxic at its primary stage even to the jailor, added to the fact that the said jailor doesn't have enough connection to the bijuu to cleanse the chakra so it's impossible to use it for Ninjutsu during its primary stages. With enough connection to the bijuu, Medical Ninjutsu is a viable option to the Jinchūriki due to the more stable bijuu chakra. Now, Genjutsu requires perfectly balanced chakra to be infused to make the targets network go haywire as it won't be able to sense the foreign chakra as they were perfectly balanced and moulded to fool the opponent's defences. So it means basically that the chakra sent to the target is moulded so that it would go unnoticed by the enemy or else they may be noticed immediately and dispelled without much effect. Tell me Naruto, do you think that bijuu chakra even when better balanced would go unnoticed by the enemy especially if it is inside them? Hah! Release even a Genin level amount of my chakra in this village and I'm sure all ninja of all rank would know of it. Our chakra is far different and more potent than those of you humans so you are sure to notice it, Genjutsu lies on subtlety which is lost here. Even if by dumb luck the enemy wouldn't sense the remnants of bijuu chakra infused to them, do you think that it would meld and combine with their network which is the primary step to create the illusion? No it would not, the remnants of the bijuu chakra would act like poison as you never "purified" them like how you do in Medical Ninjutsu and Reinforcement, the chakra being poison means it will never combine properly to create illusion" The bijuu while speaking, exuded an aura of great knowledge; Naruto didn't find it hard to believe the beast. The man in the background panted from the efforts it exerted and slapped both his hands on the ground after a few handseals and made an earth dome as defence.
"So this means I can use your chakra to poison my enemies?"
"Yes and no. Yes, you can poison them with my chakra and No you can't use this as strategy. My chakra was never welcome to their bodies; they can easily expel them with little effort if they tried. The only reason my chakra does not get expelled when used for Healing and reinforcement is because the receiver is actually opening up their defences just so that their body won't expel the alien chakra. It will also be impossible for your chakra to be the same as that of a regular human. As you know, Jinchūriki seals are meant to not only bind a bijuu to a human but also for them to utilize their chakra. Yours was especially made to constantly supply my chakra to you till you take all of mine, so your chakra will always have major traces of mine. The measures of the Yondaime to siphon my chakra, Hah! Futile that is, even if bound by a seal. The bijuu will be able to gather chakra, its why the sage didn't just bind or seal away the whole Juubi when his death neared but rather just his physical body and divided his mental(spiritual) half which is us, otherwise the Juubi will escape. There is no such human capable of holding it when it will be able to gather all its power, for a few decades the sage was able to hold it but it hasn't even gathered a quarter of its true capacity during that time. The Juubi is does not have much sentience without complete power. With about 3/4th's of it gathered, Its sentience comes back and that's never a good thing " Kurama pondered for a few moments. The man burst out from his self-made dome and threw an imaginary projectile to the opening of the dome, probably thinking it was an explosive tagged kunai. Naruto then evaded a swipe from the now panting man clearly not meant for him.
"I will entrust you upon this knowledge but make sure no one else is to know of this or disasters are sure to come" Kurama stated before continuing in a more quite tone "The Juubi is the will of the world, the whole elemental nations. The Shinju was its heart. The fruit was its sign of trust to the humans. The fruit contained thousands of different seeds that was the source of different powers, it was why the human who dared eat it, gained a lot of powers….*pause*… The fruit was supposed to grow and grow till the time comes that it will fall. The moment it falls, it will shatter and reveal all the seeds contained in it, the people would then plant them and grow trees that would grow differently from each other. Each when would produce different fruits that when eaten, will give different kinds of abilities. This way everybody would share the gift of the Shinju. They would have probably called the fruits as "Devil Fruits" or with another name but no! A greedy human took it all for herself, her progeny tried to correct her mistakes by utilizing the powers for better use but the damage has been done. The heart has been shattered and destroyed, mistrust was already planted. The Juubi is the will of the world; it is the incarnation of its hatred against humanity. We were once one as the Juubi; the sage learned of this knowledge and tried to delay the inevitable by dividing us. He was successful; the Shinju acknowledged his efforts and decided that it would give humanity a second chance. However, should you humans betray the Shinju once more by combining all of us to form the Juubi once more….then its reason and 'Will' will resurface again and humanity may come to an end. The World didn't create humanity; it has no reason to let you stay, only for you to destroy it" The beasts grim tone made it clearer to Naruto.
"So you actually cared for humanity eh?, since you didn't want the Juubi to resurface?" Naruto said, he wanted to make the mood lighter.
"Are you stupid? The only reason we bijuu's didn't allow the Juubi to rise fully is because we'd lose our consciousness forever, that is equivalent to dying to you humans. I want most of you to die but not at the cost of myself; even you yourself won't do that I'm sure" The beast turned its back signalling the end of the conversation.The bijuu was fast on the defensive when the topic veered of a little.
"I'd sacrifice myself if it means my friends will be truly safe….and that includes you, Kurama" The last part was almost a whisper but the bijuu still heard it.
"Hmphhhh" The bijuu turned its back and spoke no more signalling the end of their conversation. 'hmphhh, where did that even come from'
Naruto shook his head and looked at the unconscious form of the man he tried his seal on, his eyes were blank clearly due to too much shock, his mouth was had foams and his body still having minor spasms. Naruto's conscience tingled but he shrugged it off before it became a major thing.
"I see, it's such a shame I can't use it that way. Anyway looks like the experiment is a success. Now let us look at the notes" He looked at the three left onlookers who had varying levels of shock written on their faces and smiled for comical purposes. The three gulped and visibly relaxed a bit due to the distraction.
"The target is an average Chunnin level Ninja. He seems to be the strongest of you four so I picked him. Hmmmm, He lasted seven minutes and fourty-four seconds before falling deep into the illusion which is the primary part. He seems to not have enough chakra to override the seal that's why he wasn't able to destroy it. During the duration he seems to believe that he actually received the injuries if those grunts and screams proved true. Of course I won't tell the name of the technique during activation so victims won't find out what it is before it is too late. The technique lasted eleven minutes and thirty eight seconds in total, you three tell me, is this person some sort of a Genjutsu specialist? The info wasn't written in his data form. Oh if you don't tell me then you'll get a nastier one than he received" Cue another grin from Naruto and more three more swallows from the bound persons.
"Ye…..yes, He was a Genjutsu specialist. He was the strongest of us four but had the second lowest chakra capacity so he chose Genjutsu. He was low Jounin level on that area and Orochimaru-sama experimented on him for a while so his mental resilience was about that of a solid Jounin. Though his other skills only left him to be considered a Chunnin" The man who spoke suddenly grimaced after speaking, a seal on his head glowed and the memory of that topic he just spoke of slowly going blurry on his mind. Sooner or later the man was sure he'd be a vegetable head if he didn't escape.
"Oh, that's great. This means the experiment is even more of a success if it was able to shatter a Jounin level resilient mind, though other factors like; previous injuries, lesser chakra left, torture and shambled mental state should be taken into account. Anyway the seal still is far from finished, I've still got a ton of things to add. So since I've got nobody to tell, I'll inform you three, it's not like you can escape here. The seal should be able to take down a solid Jounin after 3-4 minutes provided preparations have been done like injuries and wasted chakra at its complete stage. This one's a strong seal meant for capturing enemies so it'll probably take time to finish" Naruto felt satisfied with his progress but his victims didn't feel so.
"Well, I've been here in this base for a bit and now I'm going to take my rest, you three be good prisoners or else you see those tags *points at the seal tags on the wall*, if you go out inside that red circle I wrote on your feet then they'll send a lightning bolt on you. There's a paralysis seal littered everywhere on this place too, and all kinds of traps I'm sure you know of already, you've tried to escape a total of four times already and failed on each attempt. This fifth time if you try to do so will make me give you a nasty seal nastier than what I gave your strongest member" Naruto spoke with seriousness before he walked to the unconscious one on the floor and bound him with the other three patched him up and performed basic medical Ninjutsu. He looked at the others and nodded to himself then did the same medical technique to patch them up a bit, enough for them to live but not enough to restore them that they may think of escape.
Naruto didn't want them unconscious all of the time; it was too risky and would increase their mental instability. He even fed them through his clones. After all his experiments required living sentient human targets not mindless bodies of humans.
'I expect them to last for another three days before they go vegetable head, I hope I have another batch of deserving test subjects to come. I still have a lot I need to practice. If my ancestors probably had enough stomach to make nastier seals then they probably would have survived even with all those offending enemies. That's all in the past now though, I'll just make sure I won't fall to the level of Orochimaru's madness so that I won't be a lunatic like him. I came back to make a better future for everybody, not just become a megalomaniac. This seals should help me attain my goal, that is all about it, nothing more. These people deserve it, I won't ever do this to my friends' Naruto tried to instil it on his mind, and he believed that this mindset made him different from the likes of Orochimaru.
After doing what he needed to do he left to his home and got his well-deserved rest. He was fast asleep and didn't notice Kurama's voice echoing through his mindscape.
"Ashura never learned any "Senjutsu enhanced-Jinchūriki technique" he never became a Jinchūriki. Centuries came before the time of Hashirama Senju came which was when they hunted us and made the new generation of Jinchūriki. Ashura learned the Six Paths Sage Mode which is the enhanced form of Senjutsu not what you were speaking of. Who are you truly, Naruto Uzumaki? You have purposely made the seal block any outlet of old memories and knowledge so I would never learn of who you truly are. I can hear your thoughts but only those that you allowed me to…The pool of memories inside this mindscape stopped showing memories even as you dream. What is it you are hiding, I have purposely entrusted you that crucial secret in hopes that you would tell me more about yourself. The remnants of Ashura's chakra no longer are little but are starting to regrow themselves, you truly are of the progeny of the sage, I need to know more. The mysteries call upon me to be solved" Kurama spoke while Naruto was having a dreamless sleep, he was truly curios of the young boy. He could feel a deep connection to the kid that made him grow comfortable with each passing moment. The sage's chakra had the same property he remembered, it was why Kurama truly revered the man even when he was no longer within the realm of the living.
(Timeskip:24 days, Location: Training Ground Seven)
"Neh sensei! can't we have some sort real mission, we've been having these D rank CHORES for a while now. We won't grow stronger with these kind of missions" Sakura whined. It had been more thanthree weeks since they had started doing the compulsory D rank missions required for newly minted Genins and it was driving her insane.
Kakashi eye smiled to his students "Luckily for you three, we have finished the D rank mission quota for new Genin, usually it takes about a month and a half for most teams to finish the minimum mount but thanks to Naruto's clones we've finished it in record time. Now, now you mustn't be mad for taking those missions. Sasuke, can you explain why newly minted Genin have to take this compulsory D rank?" Kakashi looked at the brooding teen; Kakashi knew he had to make the kid feel a bit more special than the others due to his personality so he was willing to give the boy a bit of that. Of course anything excessive could be dangerous so he didn't do this a lot of times, or so he thought.
"Hn, Despite the number of strong ninja in this village. We can't spend them for the menial tasks requested by the civilian clients. That would later on make them rusty and that can't be allowed so those ninja with lesser skill are made to take this work. Since the highest number of ninja population belonged to the Genin, we didn't have much problem dividing this so the stronger ones were spared of this tasks. Besides, most of our village income from missions comes from the total of this D rank missions, their sheer number with taxes applied allows us to have enough money to improve our village" Sasuke spoke it in a 'it's an obvious thing you should know' tone all together accompanied with a stance reeking of a 'I know more things and so I'm superior than most' aura.
"You see sakura you should have figured that out already after all these days of doing it. Sasuke knows of it and since Naruto never complained, it means he knows it too" Naruto's eye twitched at that.
"Yeah right, He knows of course. He's an Uchiha after all" Sakura rolled her eyes at Sasuke. She had liked it during the academy times that the teachers praised Sasuke due to his skills and abilities. She had been one of his fans after all. However, when they got out of the academy, sakura thought she'd have her own attention and guidance from her sensei and grow into a wonderful kunoichi capable of defending herself. Instead what she got was more than two weeks of Chores accompanied with a sensei praising one of his students every now and then when he had the chance. It was tolerable at first but annoying when it happened more than a few times.
Sasuke replied to sakura, oblivious to her sarcasm "It was not just about me being an Uchiha, Sakura. It's also about doing your work as a ninja to see things underneath the underneath like Kakashi sensei said. Besides we have time to train during the late afternoon. I'm sure Naruto is doing that, why don't you do it yourself? Our clan was once revered to be the only one capable of rivalling the Senju, it's not just because we are born superior though it's a big factor but because we are born and raised with the mindset that training is the key to strength and power comes when you win against your enemies"
'Yeah right, training to steal techniques that people worked hard to make and using it like it's your own. I know ninja have no honor but at least do not claim of power when your own is only gotten through stealing from the efforts of others' Naruto thought. As a practitioner of Fuinjutsu which is an art that required great effort and concentration, Naruto could almost feel how the other people felt who had their techniques stolen by the Uchiha just to be renamed and claimed theirs. Too bad for the Uchiha it's nearby impossible to steal Fuinjutsu.
"Mah, Mah Stop thinking about negative thoughts since were already done with the quota I have another activity for you. Today we have a guest I borrowed from another sensei; he's your past classmate so you should already be acquainted. You can come out now Kazuto" Kakashi called out.
A boy wearing 'all black' ninja clothes came out of a nearby tree and the four students looked at one another and greeted each other.
"So today I decided I'll teach you the basics of Kenjutsu, You see Kazuto…."Kakashi was stopped mid-sentence by sakura.
"Sensei we call him Kirito because he likes to combine his name"
"Ahhh I see, Kirigaya Kazuto combined makes Kirito, hmmm I think I should tell Jiraiya sama of that. He could probably make a chapter or two with that added info. Tsukina and Yomiru could have probably been combined into Tsukiyomi or Yomina, Anyways, Kirito here is the cousin of Hayate Gekko. Kirito's father was a Kirigaya so he didn't have the same surname as Hayate. Hayate Gekko is one of the best swordsmen our village has to offer, without his disease he'd probably be the best, He's been training young Kirito since the age of nine so there's no doubt that he's probably the strongest Kenjutsu user in your batch, that is if you have another Kenjutsu specialist in your class" Kakashi gave Naruto a suspicious look but he didn't seem bothered.
"Inside our previous class are six Kenjutsu users I know of; Kazuto Kirigaya and his cousin, Suguha Kirigaya and also Asuna Yuuki, They belong to a team with their sensei being Hayate Gekko. I previously thought they were especially requested by Hayate Gekko as they were known though not by much, due to their backgrounds in Kenjutsu but as you've said, they're both cousins of their sensei Asuna was probably added because she is Kirito's girlfriend. Naotsugu Hasegawa and Shizuka Hanekura are also practitioners of Kenjutsu who belong to a team with Kei Shirogane who is not a practitioner with their sensei being Yugao Uzuki, who upon researching I've found out to be a former anbu just like you sensei. The last person who practiced Kenjutsu in our batch was…. me" Naruto spoke stunning most of the people in the vicinity even in the shadows not only with the revelation of him being a practitioner but also his knowledge of the other practitioners using Kenjutsu as they were never publicly announced by the said individuals but rather, they practiced at home. Kirito wasn't surprised as it was he who told Naruto of the knowledge about the members of their team as Naruto asked a week ago during an "accidental" meeting of them in the training grounds when Naruto happened to pass by the said teens training ground. Kakashi knew of this already too , he had been spying on Naruto ever since the bell test but he just wanted to know if Naruto was willing to admit it to his teammates, so far Naruto has been doing good on not being suspicious to others, points for that.
"Wait you can do Kenjutsu and you never told us? That's unfair. You know what, I'm going home with you this afternoon and I'm going to train with you and that's final. I've heard the Hokage gifted a whole apartment to you so you should have spare rooms for me" Sakura crossed her arms for an extra effect"
"How did you know that? I never told anybody about JiJi's graduation gift to me" Naruto was shocked; he was telling the truth about not telling anybody about the old man's gift to him. This breach of security was alarming to him, he must learn of the identity of this spy as he or she could be a great danger to him or even a great asset if properly managed.
"Well duhh! Ino told me two days after the graduation, She also told me that your actually next on spot to Sasuke who was the rookie of the year, you were just a few points away. Ino asked her father how that was possible because you were always on the average in terms of written grades during the recent years and even dead last during the first few. Her father said the basis of choosing the rookie of the year relied more on practical evaluation than written exams, How she pursued her father to tell her those? I don't know, I even thought that I'd be Kunoichi of the year but no! Shizuka took that spot from me and Asuna took second. My written scores were far higher than them as I was perfect, my physical scores were only average but their physical exam scores dwarfed mine and their written scores weren't that bad too" Sakura's tone varied throughout her speech from amused, to excited and finally to a bitter one at end.
"What! Ino said that? How long has she been spying on me?" Naruto was alarmed now, if Ino learnt more than a few things about him then the whole village is bound to know already as the girl was known to be the "Gossip Queen"
"HAH!Ino doesn't just spy on you; she spies on everybody. To get the juiciest details, she asks for compensation which is mostly about gossip that she doesn't know yet. She even knows a few things from the Jounin Gossip Ring which should have been impossible, heck we don't even have an idea where she gets all the info she has. All that we know is that almost all of the information she shares are accurate and true"
Naruto was baffled and had his jaw hanging. Here he was looking for prospective candidates as allies that held great skills in various arts, and yet there was Ino who he had just passed up as another useless fangirl but now was possibly the best candidate for spymaster and information gathering in their batch. Naruto had to get on the good side of that girl, and he had a few plans in mind for her to become his ally.
The other persons looking at the exchange of Naruto and Sakura sweatdropped, they had never seen Naruto show this much emotion since his earlier times at the academy. He had slowly transformed from the goofy kid asking for dates to the quite cool dude in the back of class in a short period of time.
*Cough…Cough*."Ahem, I believe weve had enough rest so let's go to the true purpose of why I've brought young Kirito here. Kirito I believe you have the things I asked for from Hayate?" Kakashi asked Kirito.
"Hai Kakashi-Sempai" He took out a scroll and released its contents revealing a few swords made of a strange metal with inscriptions on their handles and the blade. He took out scroll and did the same, this time they contained two wooden swords.
"Now you see, these ninjatō are real but have seals inscribed on them to make them more blunted. The other is just training swords for practice but with seals for reinforcement. You can inspect them if you want Naruto, I heard you are pretty good at skills and from the things you revealed at the bell test I'm not even surprised" Kakashi smiled as Naruto's eye twitched.
'What are you up to you scarecrow' Naruto thought. Naruto couldn't stop the temptation though and he ended up inspecting the said seals, the look of triumph in Kakashi's face was eminent to Naruto though and he felt that he lost some sort of competition.
"Now what have you observed Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his attention now focused fully to deciphering data from Naruto's answer.
Naruto looked at the seals with the eyes like that of a seasoned ninja and spoke with the tone like that of a professor "The ones on the wooden swords is the Earth reinforcement Seal, it was known to be first made by Mito Uzumaki. It has 5 revealed levels and a secret 6th level whose method of creation was lost other than the samples who were already compressed so reverse engineering would require at least Grandmaster Rank Fuin specialist, this seal is a basic one but its final level isn't. This seal works by enforces earth natured chakra and manipulates it to fit to the properties of the wood making it more durable and lasting depending on the seal level and wood material quality, the lowest makes the wooden sword almost twice as sturdy and the highest level making the wooden sword capable of blocking even a sharp katana reinforced with unrefined chakra and with the best quality wood it can even block natured chakra. Those ones could last even a century if used only for training and not real combat. The final level requires only a Master Rank but secret level requires not only the Fuinjutsu maker being Grandmaster Rank but also an adept at Earth nature Chakra manipulation, the secret level also had a lot of inscriptions that were never revealed too. The inscriptions point them to be level 6 *Kirito gasped at this* which means they are made by somebody truly great if he or she was able to decipher the formula, I didn't even know we have such a skilled fuin expert in this village. This sword looks new too. I should probably research the source of this I could probably learn a thing or two if I apprenticed on that person…." Naruto seemed surprised with what he discovered but continued. Kakashi noticed that while he considered the source to be great, the prospective of apprenticing from an individual whose rarity in these days could be counted with the fingers of two hands didn't seem that great to him, should that individual have been present Kakashi was sure that even he himself would try his best to apprentice from such individual.
Naruto's continuation relieved Kakashi of his unwanted suspicion "…. I doubt that's possible though, such an individual will have way more than one prospective apprentice applying. It would take too much effort and time for that trouble; I'll just go for it when I'm strong enough to prove myself. Moving on, these real swords or ninjatō have a Blunted Edge Seal on their bladed sides. Compared to the other, this one is dwarfed in terms of quality. Its seals activate at contact with anything, at which time they will 'blunt' the already blunt blades by creating a coating on the tip of the blades with chakra that are actually produced to be used as Healing chakra. As you know already, healing chakra is made to heal and not injure but the blade says so otherwise so instead of healing those who are hit, it instead blunts the blade. The only thing complex to the seal is the application of the Healing Chakra to the blade which is impossible through normal means as Healing Chakra is made to be absorbed by living beings and not inorganic ones. The activation of the seal has no delays too. That's all I see in this swords. I hope I provided enough information for you" Naruto then looked around his companions and thought 'Ughhh, me and my mouth. I got too carried away and forgot my façade. That's too much knowledge for a teen. Hey Kurama, do you have any idea for an escape route for this situation?'
'Tell them you were given apprenticeship and a few books by two traveling adventurers from the northern lands. Their names are Sora and Shiro. The scarecrow should get the reference. Don't ask me how I knew of that. He won't ask how and when they taught you, just delay him about the location of the books; it's easy to get it should it be needed. I'll tell you later. Don't disturb me for a while, I need my rest'
'Thanks Kurama'
"Whoa! I never knew you were that informed in Fuinjutsu. I actually looked it up a bit in the library but most of the things there available for academy students are way too limited and all of them point out that you must have a sensei or mentor so that you can start learning the art. Hayate said he couldn't mentor me since he doesn't have enough knowledge and its dangerous to learn it without a mentor, who's your mentor?" Kirito asked, excitement dripping with each word.
"I am curious of that myself too" Sasuke added
"Shouldn't you know a mentor Kirito? After all these came from you" Naruto asked as an answer to their question.
"Ahhhh, about those, I never knew they were that great. We use these wooden swords to train younger persons in our family. We are given one at the age of 6 for practice swinging and kata forms, at the age of 9 we get our mentors which are older ones of our family. Suguha and I got Hayate, Asuna was included too since she's actually my fiancée since birth due to arranged marriage. Anyway it is why Hayate was our Sensei today, it was especially requested by our clan, though we are only a minor clan and don't hold much political power so we have no seat for clan heads. Anyway our individual swords can only be used for training so that it won't be destroyed and can be passed down to coming generations, we are also required to return it upon reaching Chunnin rank. It can be borrowed if proper request is made though which is what I did now. We have roughly thirty of these gifted to us by Mito-sama and its wood was made by Hashirama-sama, its why its top quality, we lost three already since then. Unfortunately Mito-sama who is the wife of the Shodaime has already passed away so I don't actually have a viable mentor at the time. We have a Voyager rank in our clan who mentored from an Uzumaki but she's already nearing a century in age and has been bedridden for a decade already. She's still actually alive only due to the support of seals she prematurely made."
"I see, what about these true swords?" Naruto inquired.
"Hayate sensei used them for his students last year, said something about being a gift of two individuals as gift since he gave them an idea for something" Kirito answered.
Kakashi's voice interrupted the teens talk "Now that's done, would you perhaps tell us about your in depth knowledge of seals Naruto. I have asked the Hokage about the topic, after all your performance in the bell test was above great; The Hokage had answered me telling me he allowed you up to Jounin level entry but only on Fuinjutsu topics on the library since he believed you had innate talent on the art. The ones you spoke of aren't even written in that section of the library, trust me, I've done my research when I was still learning too. Everything in that library even to anbu libraries are only enough for those up to master rank, voyager rank after all involves adventuring to discover more through yourself and learning new uses of Fuinjutsu. The knowledge you just said to us aren't written anywhere in Konoha Libraries minus the Kage Vault" Kakashi's voice held edge, Naruto knew that one wrong word and all his efforts to become unsuspicious would be of no use. Unfortunately for the scarecrow, Naruto was prepared for this with the help of Kurama.
"I was given apprenticeship by two traveling adventurers from the northern lands. They saw me after school when I pranked a teacher and the teacher called me by my last name. They called me out then and said that I probably had the talent for the art in my blood. It was why I started acting different too. They taught me secretly till last year where they left and left me a few books. I won't tell you about the location of those books, they made me promise not to give them to anyone even the Hokage. I also told Hokage JiJi I was getting a few books from some friends and I can't tell him who they were yet and what those books are even if you ask Hokage JiJi" Smooth lies, Naruto did tell the Hokage about receiving books but those were actually just Kids books from Ayame and he paraphrased it so that the Hokage would think somebody was caring for Naruto and somebody was teaching him lessons about life. Naruto was happy he didn't tell the Hokage who gave him the books or what those books were.
Sakura and Kirito took the information with stride and believed immediately. Sasuke believed too but hi jealousy started acting again. 'Why him? Why not me, Why is it always him?!' Sasuke thought
"These adventurers, do you know their names? You do realize that talking to strangers is dangerous right Naruto?" Kakashi spoke, the suspicious lifted again a bit but wanted confirmation for finality.
"Since they already left, I can tell their names. They are Sora-sensei and Shiro-sensei…" Naruto grew silent and lowered his head to give extra effect for his next statement.
"Nobody taught me talking to strangers was dangerous…..Nobody wanted to talk to me…Everybody just ignored me…"Naruto raised his head and smiled bitterly.
"They were the first persons other than Hokage Jiji and Ichiraku family who cared for me so I accepted them as friends with just a few days of talk. Both of them kept calling me brother, they said we were family" he finished.
Naruto got what he expected as their reactions. All three lowered their heads a bit, even Sasuke. Clearly they understood what Naruto was talking about and were a bit guilty during academy times too. They had taken steps to improve their relationship to Naruto now though. Kakashi took the hit at most though, the look of depression and self-disappointment present in his eyes, unseen by the Genin but seen by the 'trained' eye of Naruto.
A few moments of silence passed before Kakashi clapped his palms together to get the mood up and spoke "Moving on. For the purpose of the activity today, Naruto and Kirito get your blunted swords and walk to each edge of the field parallel to one another. You should know what I am talking about already by now"
"Hai Sensei!" Both teen spoke. Kirito more than excited took his sword and went to his position. He had been curious of Naruto's skill ever since their talk about Kenjutsu after the academy.
When they were at their spots, Kakashi decided to tell Naruto something"Naruto, those two; Sora and Shiro are actually called –Blank- when together, the both of them are level 4 Grandmaster rank fuin experts and the same person who gave the blunted swords to Hayate. They probably had no purpose for the sword and decided to give them as a gift. Those two are actually Uzumaki; Shiro is a whitehead though so some suspected her to be a fake. I'm happy you met some family early in your life. Those two travel together and give gifts to those who they deem are worth it or those who gave them ideas for new projects. They have been requested at all the Hidden Villages as allies and even threatened them if they refused. They were never caught though; nobody lived to tell the tale about those who took it too far in capturing them. The reason why they were called travelers from the north is because they would always exit as if going to the direction of the north even if they were found next on a city south to where they just exited. I'm sure you were given the poem in the textbook about them"
Sakura and Asuna raised their arms and asked simultaneously "What's the poem sensei?" Then looked at each other and giggled.
Kakashi spoke with mysterious tone.
"Be wary of the travelers from the north.
Together as one
But together as none,
For together they are -Blank-
They vanish like the wind
And strike like a hurricane
Be wary of the spells they enchant,
Death is but a fickle thing
Than what the two can do
Be wary of the travelers from the north
A present they may give
But something, it may entail
Be wary of the travelers from the north
Alone as strong as beasts
Together to be feared as monsters"
"The two may look like teenagers but they are actually as old the Sandaime Hokage. Their skills in Fuinjutsu helped in that regard, the Uzumaki were also known for their longevity so you shouldn't be surprised, I heard one of the Sanin also used a seal to prevent old age, but hers seem to be illusions"
The Genin seemed to have questions of their own but Kakashi didn't allow them to speak and called out.
"Now Sakura and Sasuke as well as you two students of Hayate hiding take a few steps back and gather around me. The boys will have a match and they'd probably get too much adrenaline. Better safe than sorry" Kakashi called out.
Asuna and Suguha came out from hiding and looked embarrassed. Asuna spoke "Sorry, We couldn't pass up the chance when we heard from sensei that you requested Kirito-kun was the best on the three of us. He's a prodigy who can now hold his own against Hayate sensei on a pure Kenjutsu match for a few minutes so we excused ourselves from sensei and hid here to watch. I heard sensei already taught Naruto-san for two sessions already and he's pretty good too so we wanted to see this match. We hope you don't mind"
"No worries, now please be silent. I suspect both of them to be very skilled in this area since they both specialize in it but Naruto has another art he is busy of so we don't know his level. I'm not very good in Kenjutsu myself and the only reason I'd probably win against these two is due to experience, experience is the best teacher. You all should not forget that" Kakashi answered.
"The rules are simple. Only Kenjutsu is allowed. Unless disarmed, Hand to hand combat is prohibited. As a reminder No Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and especially NO Fuinjutsu is allowed for you Naruto. We don't want you blowing up Kirito into pieces if you are backed down in a corner. The fight is decided when one of you forfeits or is able to knock down and hold the blade against his opponent. Perform the seal of confrontation" Naruto and Kirito did so and readied themselves for combat.
"At the count of the three you can start…..one, two….three!"
Kirito darted forward and thrust his sword forward to Naruto who deflected the blade by its side making Kirito spin, Naruto prepared to attack but was put on the defensive when Kirito instantly used the momentum to perform a sword technique.
"Sword Art(Kenjutsu):Treble Scythe, first step!" Kirito suddenly started to spin and vanished to Naruto's right, he blocked the first strike completely. "Second Step!" the voice signalled to the unguarded left and gave Naruto enough time to block, He wasn't expecting the momentum to not decrease even when he blocked the first strike coupled with enhanced chakra, Naruto was pushed backed.
"Final Step!" Kirito announced.
'Too fast!' This time it came from behind and Naruto had to reveal a trick on his sleeve or he'd take a major hit.
"Sword Art: VanGuardians Stand!" Naruto turned to his back held a stance lowering his left foot a bit as support and putting the support to his front. His sword held on a defensive manner his face carefully guarded. Naruto's form suddenly emitted a faint golden aura(not to be mistaken for SageofSixpath Mode).
The third strike hit and the two combatants held their swords against each other. Kirito's attack held great offensive force and was visible when it hit but Naruto didn't budge a bit nor did he seem to have trouble keeping up against the standstill when Kirito kept his sword pressed against Naruto's. Kirito seemed to have trouble keeping up the push and jumped back.
The exchange was only a few seconds but the onlookers were amazed especially the Genins.
Kirito looked baffled "How? This technique was especially made to counter what you just did to me. Normally a first strike rush thrust was more dangerous to the user than the target as it is easy to deflect but this technique evened out the risks as countermeasure. It is supposed to have increasing momentum even when the first and second strikes are blocked. The third strike is empowered with the momentum as well the chakra infused to it. Even Hayate sensei was never able to completely block that third strike when I was successful on finishing the move, how did you do that?"
Naruto stood, the faint golden aura gone. He grinned as he spoke "My senseis didn't only teach me about Fuinjutsu, besides you still haven't mastered it since you still have to call out their names for your brain to properly execute rather than just mentally ordering yourself. Now for my turn I still haven't mastered the VanGuardians style but here goes, dodge this!" Naruto darted the same way Kirito did earlier If only a bit slower for something he was preparing. Kirito went on the defensive.
"Sword Art: VanGuardians Push!" Kirito raised an eyebrow. They were prohibited to use hand to hand combat and a push of a blade is made only during standstill and Naruto was doing a thrust, also it's not like he would want to block a strike from somebody capable of blocking of his strongest fast counter moves so he would just waited for the attack to come, dodge it and strike.
He would never have the chance to dodge this one though.
Naruto's form emitted that same faint golden aura around his body and the tip of his sword suddenly formed a golden shield that looked eerily similar to an aegis.
'Crap I already made the move to dodge' Kirito wasn't able to dodge the shield as big as his whole form and got hit. There was no major damage done but He knew this was just the first step.
"PUSH!" Naruto screamed. The screamed was accompanied by echoes that came out of nowhere and made it seem like there was a legion screaming together Naruto that made it seem scary.
It baffled Kakashi that he couldn't sense any form of Genjutsu from Naruto. 'What the heck? It's the same level as Gai's sunset Genjutsu. There's not even a minute trace of it being used!'
Kirito was pushed fast and was approaching fast on a nearby tree 'Ughh! This will do great damage if I hit that tree, why did I ever let myself be caught by this technique, it doesn't even seem like a Kenjutsu technique. Why does Naruto look like he's riding a horse holding a spear not a sword? That golden aura is probably making me hallucinate. I have to stop holding back!'
"Weight Seal Release!Resistance Seal Release!" Kirito's Scream signalled his comeback.
He forced chakra to his feet and jumped sideways against Naruto's attack escaping only seconds away from hitting the tree.
BOOM! An explosion was heard when Naruto hit the tree and made a cloud of smoke that dissipated fast. The tree creaked and fell like a tree hit by
chainsaw.
"What kind of Kenjutsu was that? Were you trying to kill me?!" Kirito asked in a comical manner while screaming unable to hold his demeanour when he saw what could have happened to him.
"Naruto, stop using those VanGuardians techniques, you could have hurt Kirito. What the heck were those and why are you glowing gold, what is with those creepy echo voices, what is with the horse and spear like you were a charging cavalier, is that even Kenjutsu?" Sakura asked, she was too shocked and had a lot of questions so she didn't realize that she was disrespecting the rules of engagement.
Kakashi let Sakura's interruption go for now and spoke "I had heard that there was an ancient civilization that fit the descriptions of what you just did. Though I believe that they are great for combat, you must hold yourself against using attacks like the last one you did. It can be traumatizing to aspiring students like these girls. I agree with sakura too, those two techniques you just utilized don't seem like Kenjutsu. Why don't you use the Azure Mantis Sword Style that you used against me during the bell test eh? I was pretty sure that was the swordless style so its counterpart should have been taught to you too. I was shocked at first that you knew that style but since your mentors are both known legendary individuals then it should be given they would teach you something epic too" This time Kakashi's tone no longer held the underlying suspicion it had earlier. Right now he just wanted to see Naruto perform the technique against an opponent with experience levels nearing his.
"Hai Sensei! I won't tell you about those techniques but I'll use azure mantis style" He looked at Kirito who looked shocked.
"Wait a minute!How do you know that lost art! Our family are the only with the knowledge of that style! They didn't even teach me that yet" Kirito called out but Naruto answered him with a diagonal slash, Kirito was on guard even while speaking so he was able to guard it down.
"That's my secret, you'll have to figure it out on your own. Prepare yourself, you'll see why it's a technique feared by many" Naruto whispered with closed eyes.
When he opened them, they were a tad bit Darker Blue in color and turned into slits like that of a mantis, this alarmed Kirito as he knew what this transformation meant. 'Morphing!He already knows how to morph! That's clearly the Azure Mantis Morph'
"Sword Art: Azure Mantis Style: First Step, eight strikes!" Naruto's attacks blurred with each slash made, he had purposely injected minimal amount of chakra to reduce the damage done to Kirito but he wasn't expecting Kirito to close his eyes and block all eight strikes without much effort.
"You don't really think that you're the only one with that eye trick don't you Naruto? I wasn't born on a family of Kenjutsu experts without learning the art Morphing"
Kirito opened his eyes and Naruto was greatly shocked. It had taken him around ten months to learn his first morph before things started pacing faster and the morphing technique allowed Naruto to use clones as speedup. Without clones he probably would have taken almost a decade to complete his first morph!but this kid who just started learning at the age of nine in Kenjutsu and probably around 11 or 12 started morphing had already done his first morph. It was even possible that he had more forms hidden just like Naruto. It was easier to learn new morphs after mastering your first so it wasn't impossible.
"What do you say Naruto? Do you think your Insect morph can do against mine?" Kirito taunted
"What makes you think yours is stronger just because its real counterpart is bigger than mine? You can try to crush this mantis, but just make sure to watch your hands on your handle. You might lose them in the process" Naruto answered. Kirito's eyes were in slits too but that of a snake and it was an intimating sight to see, even though Naruto wasn't, his other teammates were.
"Azure Mantis Style: Azure Blade Waltz!" "Crimson Serpent Style: Crimson Blade Waltz!"
Both called out at the same time and blade waltz begun.
-ChapterEnd-
Authors Note: I'm sorry if I left it a cliff-hanger but I just thought of trying it once. Don't worry though guys I won't do this much of the time but the word count is already at 11k plus so I thought it would be okay enough.
Trivia:Treble Scythe is an actual SAO-sword skill(manga only) .
The VanGuardians techniques were made up hope you don't get mad at me for that.
You may have also noticed that I put up the Sword Art part even if Kenjutsu is translated to Sword Technique. I just thought that it sounds cooler just like Martial Arts instead of Martial Techniques.
Congrats to those who got the reference about the travelers, yes the two travelers named Sora&Shiro are the protagonist of the anime called NoGameNoLife. This fanfic is starting to look like a cross-over too ughhh, i hope i don't get haters because of that mistake since this is my first fic.
Oh and an extra note,,,Naruto didn't train with the -blank- in case you got fooled by naruto's lies hehe. He was just making up things to cover up his story and Kakashi thought it was true so the story may have seemed like it actually happened at one point even if it never did.
Anyway as always, your reviews will energize me to post new chapters so…..
R&R