Naruto already suspected this person would appear, he was pretty sure he had seen him disappear from beside Senjumaru when the needle hit Sasuke's neck, however he didn't expect to see them this soon.
"Hey, how's it going gaki?" the man Senjumaru called Quincy-san asked with a lazy wave and a crooked grin adorning his bandaged face.
"Izumo-san, what are you doing here?" the young blond asked suspiciously, only to blink upon seeing the man's eye twitch in annoyance.
"I'm Kotetsu, not Izumo," the spiky haired man stated with a strained tone, "and as for what I'm doing here… well I guess I just got curious about what you were doing with shinigami-chan here."
And with that statement he flashed the older woman a cheeky grin only to grow despondent when she simply returned to writing on her clipboard.
"Oh come on shinigami-chan, what's with the cold shoulder?" the dark haired Chūnin asked her in an obviously fake hurt tone.
"That is easy, I don't like you," the bluntness of the oldest in the clearings statement almost made Naruto cringe as she once again went back to ignoring him as he took a seat on a part of the grass that wasn't stained with blood.
"Yeah, just like you to say it so bluntly," the laid back ninja responded before returning his attention towards the young jinchūriki, "so how does it feel to be a shinigami?"
"Uh… I guess it's alright, a little weird but not bad," the whiskered child stated uncertainly, making the older ninja smirk at his obvious discomfort talking about such a thing.
"Yeah, I'd expect it to feel weird, manipulating Reiryoku is completely different to manipulating chakra after all," the eternal Chūnin said with his grin back full force.
Naruto found himself growing more and more concerned about the other ninja in the clearing as he tried to think about exactly what they were doing there and most importantly, how they knew Senjumaru as well as they did… plus there was another question that plagued his mind.
"Um, Kotetsu… why does Senjumaru-chan keep calling you Quincy-san?" he decided to simply ask the obvious question, hoping that he would get an answer that would tell him exactly what was going on.
"Because me and Izumo are both Quincy," he said easily before deciding that he needed to extrapolate when he noticed that the blond had a lost look adorning his face, "we're basically another group of hollow hunters… the shinigami has told you about hollows right?"
Naruto found himself blinking in surprise at the Chūnin's statement, he never knew there were other types of hollow hunter around, though he knew he shouldn't have been surprised.
"Uh, yeah, they're evil souls that go around eating other souls right?" the whiskered shinigami said with a hint of uncertainty in his tone.
"Good, never know what she's told ya, despite being a so called genius, she's actually pretty forgetful at times," the older ninja said with a grin earning narrowed eyes off the oldest in the clearing, "like that time she forgot to hide her reiatsu when she was trying to pee-aarrkk!"
Naruto could only stare in disbelief as he saw one of the few adults to treat him without any form of scorn get struck by a large rock, that is before he turned to face the female shinigami who was currently holding an even bigger rock in her hands.
"Now, now Quincy-san, spreading rumours about me isn't appropriate," she said with an obviously fake pleasantness in her tone, honestly it made the blond shiver in fear… he would have to remember to not get on the woman's bad side.
"Oh, come on, how can it be a rumour when there are only three… sorry, four, people in Konoha that even know who you are?" the man with bandages on his nose asked the woman rhetorically, earning another glare off the woman.
"Hold on! You mean there's someone else in Konoha like us?" the blue eyed genin asked in shock, he hadn't expected there to be quite so many given how little he had seen up till then.
"Not quite, she's capable of seeing spirits and knows about us but that's it, she tends to just keep clear of us whenever we're doing any hollow hunting," the Chūnin stated calmly, earning a small frown off the young blond.
"So who is it?" he asked hoping he at least knew the name.
"Some sushi waitress named Kohada, really popular among the guys," the bandaged Chūnin stated with a grin, earning a blank expression off the blond.
"A sushi waitress?" Naruto found himself having a hard time believing what he had just heard, to think that of all the people in Konoha, it would be a waitress that could see spirits as opposed to a Jōnin or Kage or ANBU.
"Don't ask me how, she doesn't know how to use her Reiryoku and she never learned how to use chakra but she serves sushi with the best," Naruto couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh of disbelief at the older ninja's words, "well, I hope you're prepared to take responsibility for my previous actions gaki."
The young blond found himself stalling at the older ninja's words before his eye started to twitch upon remembering exactly what had happened earlier with Sasuke.
"What did you do to my teammate?" he asked with a hint of a growl coming through his voice, making the dark haired Chūnin sweat a little.
"All I did was destroy a corrupting influence, that's all," Kotetsu said, earning a suspicious look off the spiky haired Jinchūriki.
"Naruto-san is unaware of the Juinjutsu Orochimaru placed on Uchiha Sasuke," Senjumaru said from the side, making Naruto look at her for confirmation, only to blink upon seeing that she had put the rock down and was back to writing on her clipboard.
"Huh? What do you mean Juinjutsu?" the jinchūriki asked with confusion clear in his tone upon hearing the shinigami's words.
"Back in training ground forty four, Orochimaru injected Uchiha Sasuke with a compound that contained traces of his chakra and soul," the dark haired woman stated calmly, "these traces were silently attacking Uchiha Sasuke's subconscious, resulting in increased aggression, desire for power and his previous goal being refocused on to the point of obsession."
Naruto could only stare in shock upon hearing what the raven haired shinigami said, why hadn't he been told about that? Why hadn't Sasuke or Sakura told him about what was happening to his teammate… or were they just as unaware of the situation as he had been?
"Do my teammates know?" he decided to ask, hoping that they were just as ignorant as he had been.
"Yes," and with that, he stopped thinking.
Nothing went through his head for several seconds before his mind started up again with several questions plaguing it... namely, why? Why hadn't they told him? Why didn't they trust him with such an important piece of information… why wasn't he being treated like a part of the team that Sakura had so desperately wanted to keep together?
The more he thought, the more he narrowed down the reasons for not telling him until he was left with just one… they didn't want to worry him.
He understood that, he hadn't even noticed that there was something wrong with Sasuke so why should they bother telling him? And what about himself? It wasn't like he wasn't keeping secrets from them, such as how he had the Kyūbi sealed within his body, how he was now a shinigami and learning how to surpass not just the Hokage but reach a level where not even the bijū could touch him… so what right did he have to condemn them for keeping things from him?
It didn't stop him from feeling angry.
Even if he was keeping secrets from them, it wasn't like he was being corrupted by some Kage murderer that had already tried to destroy the village at least once.
So with gritted teeth he stood up and walked towards a tree, his thoughts now clear on what he had to do.
"Hey, Naruto, you alright?" Kotetsu asked him from his position on the ground, earning a blank stare from the spiky haired youth.
"No… that's why I'm going to train," he responded seriously, "it'll help clear my mind."
"Well if that's the case," the dark haired Quincy started only to get cut off by a fourth voice.
"You'll be coming back to work you damn skiver!" Naruto looked towards the new voice to see the other member of the Chūnin duo, wearing his usual Chūnin uniform with a turtleneck that stretched over his chin, a bandana covering the top of his head with the Konoha hitai-ate on the forehead, while a large bang of hair covering his right eye.
"Izumo! What the hell are you doing here?!" Kotetsu asked in shock at seeing his usual partner, who simply gave him a strained smile before responding.
"What am I doing here? I'm looking for your lazy ass! Hokage-sama called for us ten minutes ago!" the more responsible of the duo shouted angrily, causing the spiky haired man's eyes to widen in shock.
"Oh shit! Sorry, looks like we'll have to cut this meeting short, we'll see ya later okay?" and with that the spiky haired man proceeded to raise to his feet.
"Yeah, and be careful around her," Izumo said seriously, "she may not look it but she's a right pervert," and with that he dodged a rock thrown at his head, "she's even tried peeking on you several times!"
Throughout the man's warning, he was left dodging the shinigami's blade, honestly surprising the blond that a human could do such a thing when she was so much older and stronger than a normal person.
"I was only trying to get a good look at the seal!" she shouted indignantly, surprising the blond with her uncharacteristic outburst.
"Yeah, sure… that's why you keep going to the hot springs every day," Kotetsu said with a wicked grin before flashing Naruto a friendly smile, "well, we'd better get going, see ya later Naruto!"
And with that the two eternal Chūnin vanished in a burst of speed, leaving a much less frustrated Naruto and a flustered shinigami alone in the training field.
Shaking his head clear, the spiky haired youth proceeded to gather chakra into his palm and without further ado, attempt to master the rasengan like he had been told to.
"It's not true," he heard the dark haired shinigami muttered loud enough for him to hear, "I'm not a pervert."
Naruto stopped when he heard the lack of conviction in her tone, something that immediately told him that she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince him.
"Look, Senjumaru-chan… that doesn't matter," he decided to lay his thoughts on the situation out for her, "even if you're a pervert on par with ero-sennin, that doesn't change the most important thing," he proceeded to take a deep breath as he prepared himself to say the most important part of his feelings down, "you're here right now, you're trying to help me and while you may not be the best teacher around," her eyebrow twitched at his small jab at her teaching skills, "at least you're here to make sure I get it right… that's more than anyone else can say."
Senjumaru for her part simply let her posture relax, she had forgotten for a moment just how little instruction the blond had received from his previous teachers and while her method of teaching him how to use a sword may not be the most pleasant experience, it did get results.
So obviously he would be prepared to ignore any of her more… unsavoury traits as long as they weren't too harmful.
"I see… thank you for giving me your confidence," she said calmly as he proceeded to return to his rasengan training.
"No problem, Senjumaru-chan."
XXX XXX XXX
Sasuke couldn't stop himself from grimacing as he sat alone in one of Konoha's parks… well, one of the trees in the park anyway.
Do you really want to become as despicable as your brother just to kill him?!
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get those words out of his head. It was a question he had never thought of before, one that the deadlast of the year had asked him when he was so close to losing himself… and it hurt.
Was he really becoming as bad as his brother? Would killing him like that really be a good thing? He was an avenger so shouldn't he be thinking of his family that had died when fighting Itachi instead of thinking of how much he hated his brother for what he had done?
He didn't know what to do anymore. He had been thinking of seeing if that Orochimaru person had kept his offer of training extended because it was clear that he wasn't getting the correct training here in Konoha… but then he wouldn't be much different from his brother if he did that… was it really worth it?
So caught up in his thoughts, he was unprepared when a series of wires wrapped around him, pinning him to the tree he was using as a place to think.
Looking forward, he was greeted by a sight he didn't want to see right now.
"What's the meaning of this?!" he asked through gritted teeth as he stared at his sensei, the very person that had taught him the Chidori not two months ago.
"If I didn't do this then you'd just run away, you're not the sort to just sit here while I preach," Kakashi said with a blank expression that was mostly hidden by his mask, "Sasuke, quit seeking revenge."
Sasuke found his mind discarding the hesitation that had been building upon hearing those words… what did that man know of what he'd been through? Who was he to think he had the right to tell him to give up?
"In this line of work, I've seen just how bad people like you can get," the silver haired Jōnin stated, remembering some of the revenge driven ninja he had seen drive themselves to destruction, "in the end, those that tasted revenge were not satisfied and it ended in tragedy."
Sasuke didn't care what the man said, he didn't know what it was like to face the man that slaughtered your entire family, he didn't know how deep his thirst for vengeance was.
"You'll only hurt and suffer more and even if you succeed… you'll only be left empty," Kakashi stated, hoping that he was getting through to his wayward student.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW!" and he finally snapped, "what if I were to kill the one you love the most? How far would you stray from what you've just said?" Kakashi had to admit, he did not like the look in his dark haired students eyes, "I can make you feel true pain."
Kakashi hoped that what he was about to say would get through to the genin just how similar they actually were, "that would work, however unfortunately for me, no such person exists… those people have already been killed."
And there it was, the shock that Kakashi was hoping would appear in the teens eyes, "I've lived in a long and hard era, I understand how terrible true pain and loss is… but at least we aren't the worst off," and he hoped that his next words would make the raven haired youth think long and hard about his place in life, "both you and I have found precious companions."
Sasuke found himself thinking on the two people that had somehow managed to worm their way into his heart over the past few months… Naruto and Sakura, no matter how hard he thought, he knew that he considered them friends even if he didn't associate with them for the most part.
"You should know from your loss, that the Chidori is a power given to you because you found things that are important to you," Kakashi started before loosening the wire he had been using to keep the Uchiha in place, "that power is not something to be used against your friends or for revenge, you should know what that power should be used for."
And then Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves with a single parting sentence.
"Think hard on if you can or cannot hold true to what I've said."
"Dammit…" that was the first thing to come out of the raven haired Uchiha's mouth upon his sensei's disappearance, today had been too much, first Naruto's question and now Kakashi's lecture… they were just too much for him to handle right now.
But the Jōnin was definitely right about one thing… he needed to think hard and come to his decision about what to do from here on out.
XXX XXX XXX
"Aaarrrgghhh!" came the loud yell as Naruto once again tried to break a tree with his incomplete rasengan, only to once again fail at the task and leave nothing more than a spiral shaped groove in the bark.
It had been nearly three hours since he had started this training session and he had to admit… he wasn't progressing at all.
Unfortunately, Senjumaru had never used chakra herself and was therefore only capable of giving him vague instructions on what he should be aiming to do, then again, vague instructions were better than the complete lack of instructions he received off his godfather.
He still found it frustrating to fail the technique so many times.
Senjumaru for her part was contemplating informing him about the memory transfer aspect of the kage bunshin, however she was pretty sure that his level with the bunshin technique itself wasn't quite high enough to really make decent use of it to train, plus there was no guarantee he wouldn't be called out on a mission at a moment's notice, not with the current state of affairs the village was in, so allowing him to completely destroy his chakra and stamina reserves in an instant was not a good idea.
It would probably be better to just let him train normally until the ninja forces had rebuilt and he was no longer at risk of being called on any time.
"Well, it looks like you still haven't quite got the hang of the jutsu yet," the raven haired shinigami said calmly as she rose from her position on the floor.
Naruto for his part just grit his teeth in frustration, to think he had finally found out how Jiraiya had done the rasengan and he was failing to achieve the completed variant despite his best attempts… he just didn't know what he was doing wrong.
"Dammit… what am I doing wrong?" he muttered to himself, though he was easily heard by the two hundred year old.
"It is possible that you aren't doing anything wrong," she stated calmly, making him look at her with confusion on his face, "the fact is that you are unused to using the jutsu in that manner and simply getting the process correct does not mean that you will necessarily get the same results."
"Huh?" Naruto knew he should've understood what she was telling him but in the end, he didn't possess a particularly good education, even if he wouldn't enjoy admitting it.
"Basically, I am saying that it is possible that all you need is practice…" upon finishing her statement, her face lit up with an expression of understanding before a grin adorned her face, "Naruto-san, have you ever tried performing the rasengan without applying the first stage?"
Naruto found himself wondering exactly what she was asking him, why wouldn't he use the first stage? It was one of the three most important stages of the rasengan and necessary for it to be the jutsu the Yondaime had created.
"No, why would I?" he asked her with his confusion clear on his face.
"You have the first two stages of the rasengan down… the problem is the third stage," Senjumaru started to explain to him, "so instead of trying to get the third stage down while focusing on the first two, attempt to master it without the spinning and then apply the first stage to the overall result."
Naruto found his eyes widening at her explanation as he finally understood exactly what she was telling him to do.
"Alright! Then let's get this on!" and without further ado, the blond proceeded to push chakra above his palm and create a shell with which to keep it stable, before thrusting it towards a tree… where the orb immediately burst like a water balloon.
"See, you need to learn how to stabilize the shell, then you can start adding the spinning to it," the raven haired shinigami stated calmly, making the blond put on another determined face as he once again got down to training, his goal of completing the rasengan one handed firmly held in his mind.
"Uh… Naruto-san, perhaps you should attempt this tomorrow, it is getting late," the oldest of the two in the clearing stated blankly, earning a deadpan off the blond.
"You've just given me a breakthrough and now you're saying 'go to bed'?" he asked bluntly, earning a shrug off the woman.
"Well, to be fair it is possible that you'll be assigned a mission at any time, so training yourself into the ground is not something that you should aim to do," she informed him calmly, making the blond blink at her statement as he thought about it.
Konoha was still recovering from the Suna and Oto invasion, its forces were stretched thin and the chances were that lower ranked ninja would end up having to do missions that were a little more difficult than normal.
Letting out a sigh, he decided to say one last thing to the shinigami that had been watching him.
"Then give me one hour, then I'll go back," he said with determination in his voice, making the raven haired shinigami nod in acceptance.
"I will hold you to that," and with that said, the blond returned to his practice, his goal simply to get the shell of the rasengan down.
XXX XXX XXX
Sasuke was not having a good time.
To think he had just been attacked by four Oto nin who had easily overcome him… even showing him just how weak his Juinjutsu was right now.
He knew there was something different about his seal from the last time he had used it, the exact nature of the difference wasn't something he could identify but it was there.
The important part however, was that they had extended Orochimaru's offer to join him in exchange for power.
But was it worth it?
Do you really want to become as despicable as your brother just to kill him?!
Those words still haunted him.
Why? Why were they making him hesitate so much? Why would going to Orochimaru make him as bad as Itachi?
As if he didn't know. Itachi was a traitor that slaughtered his family and right now, the raven haired Uchiha had been considering defecting from Konoha, which would've resulted in a team being sent to follow him, he understood that much and given the strength of the four Oto nin that had attacked him, he was unsure if the team sent would survive… he could potentially be killing his comrades by leaving the village.
But the gap between him and his brother wasn't decreasing, if anything it was increasing and the young genin couldn't bring himself to dismiss an offer by one of the strongest ninja Konoha had ever produced.
Then his eyes turned hard.
He had listened to Kakashi's preaching earlier, he knew the man believed that vengeance wasn't worth the pain it would cause… but he had another goal, one to strive towards once his revenge had been completed so he knew that he would be capable of moving past it.
But he couldn't complete his other goal if Itachi was still alive, not without having that shadow hanging over him and threatening to destroy everything again.
And so he rose to his feet and walked towards his home… where he would prepare himself to leave.
XXX XXX XXX
Senjumaru had to admit, Naruto really was interesting, it had been nearly an hour and the blond was actually making visible progress with the shell, namely that it was no longer bursting as soon as it hit the tree, managing to survive about a second of pressing before it lost its form.
Honestly she believed that if he could manage that, he could probably use a serviceable version of the jutsu, even if it wouldn't be quite right.
"Naruto-san," she decided to call out to him, making him stall in his latest attempt, "would you please attempt to use the full version of the rasengan now?"
The blond for his part simply blinked before giving her a frown even if he nodded his head in affirmation.
Focusing the chakra into his hand, he created a shell to keep all the chakra inside before he started to make the chakra inside rotate at the tip of each finger and over his palm, creating a violent maelstrom of spinning chakra inside the orb of energy.
Keeping most of his focus on the shell, he proceeded to charge the tree with the orb in his hand before slamming it against the bark.
For nearly a second he could tell the attack was grinding away at the wood before the shell burst and the maelstrom was release, created a spiral grove where the attack had struck.
Looking at his handiwork, he was left with wide eyes upon seeing the significantly increased damage he had managed to achieve with his most recent attempt at the jutsu.
Sure he knew the attack should've gone straight through the target but it was a massive improvement on what he could manage before.
"That is good to see," he heard his new sensei say calmly as she analysed the damage inflicted on the bark of the tree, "it would appear that focusing on learning how to maintain the shell alone is dramatically increasing the level of the jutsu."
Naruto could do nothing more than grin, happy that he was finally beginning to master the rasengan, sure he still had a long way to go but it was significantly better than his need for a Kage Bunshin just to use it at all… sure he was certain he would need to use a bunshin if he wanted to use it in battle right now but at least he was making progress.
"And that is an hour up," he was broken from his thoughts by the female shinigami's statement, making him remember what he had said earlier.
"Alright, then it's time to go home," he said with satisfaction clear in his tone at the progress he had made today.
"Yes... tell me, have I ever told you about shunpo?" she asked him, thinking that since it was a technique designed for movement, learning how to do it while walking wasn't such a bad idea.
"Huh? No, what's that?" the whiskered jinchūriki asked, earning a smirk off the much older woman.
"It is a high speed movement technique, I'd probably say it is similar in effect to Shunshin but completely different in execution," she explained, earning a focused stare off the blond as he thought about the highly utilized jutsu.
"So why shouldn't I just learn Shunshin instead?" he asked her calmly, earning a smirk off the woman.
"Because it is well known that using shunshin in combat is difficult… using Shunpo in battle is normal," she explained, making the blonds eyes widen and sparkle.
"So when are you going to teach it to me?" he asked excitedly.
"Right now."
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto had to admit, Shunpo was surprisingly easy to get down… the problem was his level with the technique, namely that he could only flash a few feet in whatever direction he aimed,, as opposed to the dozens of feet that Senjumaru was capable of.
Though at least she seemed impressed that he managed to get the technique at all… though that made him wonder if he had learned the technique quicker than a normal shinigami or if she had simply expected him to suck at it.
Obviously, he was hoping for the first one.
But that didn't change one simple fact… now that he was back he was left wondering one thing.
"Hey, Senjumaru-chan… where are you going to stay?" he asked the shinigami with his confusion clear in his voice, only to start feeling nervous upon seeing the mischievous smirk that adorned her face.
"Why, I'm going to stay here of course," she said so in such a matter of fact manner that Naruto was left speechless, the sheer fact that she didn't even bother asking him if it was alright made him feel like he was just being taken advantage of.
"Wait? What do you mean stay here?! I only have one bed!" he shouted angrily, briefly hoping that his neighbours couldn't hear him.
"You never complained about sharing it with me before," and with that the blond fell silent.
"S-share it with you? When the hell did I ever sleep with you?!" he asked angrily, earning a light smile off the raven haired beauty.
"Oh, I lost count but most nights since you were seven years old," and once again Naruto was shocked out of his anger as he finally realised exactly what she was saying.
"W-w-w-w-w-wait! You mean you've… been… sleeping with me for that long?" he was sure his face was probably so red it would make blood look green.
And then it happened.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto was once again shocked out of his stupor upon seeing the woman laugh her ass off, making his eyes narrow as she finally regained her breath, "y-you should've seen the look on your face… priceless."
And with that Naruto finally realised exactly what had happened.
"You were lying weren't you?" he asked seriously, earning a nod of acknowledgement off the shinigami as she finally managed to straighten her posture again.
"Yes, I was lying, it was just too perfect an opportunity to ignore," she stated as calmly as she could, though she still had a satisfied smirk adorning her lips, "to answer your question seriously, I usually just sleep on the sofa in the Hokage's office, however since I'm supposed to be training you, I need to be here to get you in the case of a hollow attack."
That explanation made sense to him and his previous shock at her decision to stay in his apartment was replaced by understanding, however there was still one problem with that.
"And where exactly are you going to sleep?" he asked seriously, earning a smirk off the shinigami.
"Well, there are two options, either in your bed," she had to suppress a giggle upon seeing him flush again upon hearing that prospect, "and the other is in the sleeping bag you have for missions."
And with his mind reminded of that option, the blond immediately calmed down as he decided exactly what the sleeping arrangement would be.
"Alright, you can take the bed, I'll take the sleeping bag," he said with a nod, earning a couple of blinks off the significantly older shinigami.
"Are you certain? This is your house and you did not invite me to stay here," she stated calmly, earning a nod off the blond.
"Yeah, you're training me right? I think I've made more progress under you than I ever had under anyone else so I think it's only right that you get the bed," the spiky haired youth stated with a determined expression, earning a nod of acceptance from her.
"I see, then thank you for your hospitality," she said with a light smile.
How nice it would be to sleep in a proper bed for once.
"No problem, well, I'll talk to ya tomorrow Senjumaru-chan," and with that the blond made his way to the bedroom to find his sleeping bag for the night.