Last time:
"Very well. Teach me then."
Kagutsuchi placed a hand on Naruto's body and the two disappeared from the mortal plane.
-
Chapter 7: Rendezvous in Iwa
It hadn't been more than a second before Kagutsuchi and Naruto reappeared.
"I shall be watching over you," Kagutsuchi informed Naruto before disappearing back to wherever he came from.
Looking down on himself, Naruto noticed that he was still the same. Nothing new about him whatsoever, yet he knew he spent more than a month training under Kagutsuchi's tutelage.
Pulling out a bingo book that he stole from the Hokage's office, Naruto flipped open the page to look for a weak missing-nin that he could test his new techniques on. Well, techniques that didn't require sacrificing his soul or something stupid like that. A smaller but still destructive technique would do nicely.
Spotting a B ranked missing nin from Konoha, Naruto picked him to test his new techniques on.
'Rokusho Aoi...why does that name sound familiar?'
Turning around, he started to run to Ame, where Aoi was rumored to have joined. Thankfully, Ame shared borders with Kusa, so it was only a few hours of shinobi-style running before he reached the western border of Kusa.
Just as he took a few leaps into Ame, a border patrol appeared in front of him.
Without a word, the group of three chuunins swarmed him.
As he blocked each attack with his now-unsealed Kuroryujin, he thought to himself, 'These guys are professionals. No mindless blabbing, careful and precise strikes, good teamwork...'
Despite these complimentary traits, they were still no match to a prodigy who was trained under the God of fire.
Keeping the katana in one hand, his other hand made a few quick seals, before he shouted, "Katon: Kaensho Haki (Fire Release: Flame Thrower)!"
He put his empty hand to his mouth and blew through it, releasing a short stream of flames. The technique was a smaller version of the Katon: Goukakyuu, yet it was so much more powerful due to its condensed size.
Two of the three chuunin managed to leap away before they could be hit, but the third was too close to Naruto to move away in time. His screams lasted for only a few minutes before dying down.
Still, the Ame chuunin did not say a word. Not even a "You killed my teammate you bastard!"
Definitely professionals.
Ignoring the smoking husk of their teammate, the two remaining Ame chuunin leapt in again, focusing on striking Naruto at places where it was humanly impossible to block at the same time. The only option was to dodge, and dodge Naruto did.
A swipe to his neck and a thrust at his right shin, for example, was impossible to block with a weapon, so Naruto could do nothing but back away as quick as he could. The two chuunin expertly followed Naruto. However, this time one of the two chuunin fell back and flipped through a few handsigns
"Suiton: Mizu no Muchi (Water Release: Whip of Water)!" A thick whip formed in the chuunin's hand, and he lashed out at Naruto while his teammate threw a barrage of shuriken at the genin.
The whip managed to coil around Naruto for a second before it evaporated with a hiss.
The chuunin looked questioningly at Naruto, who replied, "Katon: Kazangan Kotetsu (Fire Release: Lava Armor). It works wonder against techniques like yours," Naruto informed the two.
Still, the three shinobi continued to fight, until Naruto decided that he was done testing various destructive techniques.
His hands moved through several hand signs, before he shouted, "Katon: Hidama no Hitoame (Fire Release: Shower of Fireballs)."
Up in the sky, dozens of fireballs the size of a dog appeared. The two chuunin looked up, and they had only moments before the fireballs rained down upon them.
In the end, the surrounding area was littered with holes, scorch marks, and burnt trees. Looking at his handiwork, Naruto smiled in satisfaction. His techniques were unstoppable!
-
After having totally trashed the border patrol, Naruto made sure that his tracks were covered, so that any other Ame nins would not think that a Konoha nin was the one to devastate their chuunin patrol. Also, as a result of having tested some of his new moves, he no longer felt like hunting Rokusho.
Turning around, the blond genin quickly headed back towards Iwa, which was his destination before he was interrupted.
Rokusho Aoi would never know that he was spared a most horrific death that day.
-
Naruto was back on the path to Iwa, strolling along as if he had all the time in the world. Boredom suddenly struck him, so he thought to himself, 'What to do?'
How about you read the book on seals I gave you. There are some things in there you still have not gotten up to that will greatly benefit you in the times to come, the low voice of the Kyuubi rumbled.
Naruto shrugged and did as told. With a poof, the book appeared in his hand.
Opening the book, he spent a few minutes thumbing through it until one particular seal caught his eye.
"The Memory Suppression Seal. Interesting..."
The Memory Suppression Seal was designed to help the gathering of information from spies. It suppresses the victims' memories of the user and any affiliation they have with him. The seal can be broken years later, giving the victim his memories back. The user will have given the victim orders before applying the seal that tell them to meet the user at a certain place and time, where they then relay all the information they have gathered over the years. If the user wants to send the spy back to continue spying, the seal must then be replaced. It also acts as a tracking mechanism and is completely undetectable, short of dissecting the person's brain and finding the physical evidence, so that the master has total confidence of his spy's well-being.
"This will be very helpful," Naruto mused to himself. "Very helpful."
-
The gates of Iwa were a magnificent sight. It was fifteen feet tall, made of a black metal that seemed to shine so brightly. Naruto's eyes widened at the sheer size of the monstrous gates.
He quickly placed a seal on him that acted like a permanent Henge, turning him into a twenty year old man with unassuming brown eyes and plain brown eyes.
Two chuunin hailed him as he approached.
"Halt! Name yourself and your purpose!"
"My name is Morisa Yahiko, and I'm just here to sightsee!" Naruto called back. The name he gave the Iwa chuunins was the first thing he could come up with.
"And your bags then? I'm sure a traveler like yourself would have baggage to carry around," one of the chuunin commented sardonically.
"I have it sealed away in my gloves," Naruto called back. He normally wouldn't have given a secret like that, but what other way could he explain why he suddenly showed up with nothing but his clothes in front of a major shinobi village?
"Seals?" the other chuunin asked, curiosity peaked. He turned his head to his partner and nodded his head, and the first chuunin took off, apparently to report to the Tsuchikage.
"Please wait for a moment," the second chuunin told Naruto.
A few minutes later, a large bearded man approached the gates, followed by the chuunin that had left.
"A seal expert, eh?" The big man stated. It was obvious from his clothes that he was the Tsuchikage. Afterall, not ever shinobi wore a large bamboo hat with the symbol for Iwa on it.
Naruto, surprised at the Tsuchikage's appearance, shook his head no. "Seals expert? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about it, sir," Naruto replied respectfully.
"Hm? Then how'd you get those seals on your gloves?"
"I paid an expert to do it for me."
"Right," the Tsuchikage drawled. "Well, then, pardon me for hindering your entrance into our magnificent village."
The gates opened, and Naruto, under the guise of Yahiko, was welcomed in.
-
"Watch him. I don't trust him. If he makes any suspicious moves, eliminate him."
"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama!"
-
'Well, that was a pretty stupid move,' Naruto thought to himself as he walked through the streets of Iwa. The buildings, rather than having been made of the same material the gates were made of, were built using stone. There was a good chance that many were built using Doton techniques. This would be a good place to boost his Doton arsenal.
'It's obvious that the Tsuchikage is going to send ANBU to track me...Now I need a good reason for visiting the Hattori's.'
Naruto wandered around the village for some time before he found what looked to be an academy, if the sight of children throwing kunai at five feet tall rocks was any clue.
Approaching the instructor, he asked, "Excuse me sir! Hi, my name is Morisa Yahiko! I'm a tourist to Iwa, and I wanted to visit the Hattori clan while I was here. I've heard much of their samurai skills, and seeing how my ancestors were samurai too, well...You can't blame me for being a bit curious."
The instructor, a gruff man with scars over his face, pointed a finger to a large building in the distance. "It's that building there," the man said.
"Thanks a lot!" Naruto thanked the man with a smile on his face.
If anyone who truly knew Naruto saw him at that moment, they'd compliment him as the ultimate actor.
A single ANBU departed to report to his superior about what he had learned from the tourist's words while the rest of the squad stayed hidden, even to Naruto's senses.
-
It took quite some time traveling the civilian way, but Naruto eventually made it to the Hattori compound. Despite being a disgraced samurai family with little money, they still had a large area that they could claim as their own.
Naruto knocked on the gates surrounding the Hattori compound, hoping that someone would hear him and answer his call.
A woman in her mid-twenties approached Naruto from the other side and asked, "How can I help you?"
"Hi, I'm Morisa Yahiko! My ancestors used to be samurai, and once I got myself interested in their history, I decided that I wanted to visit any remaining samurai clans. Yours was the most prominent samurai clan mentioned that still survived, so I came here hoping for an audience," the blond explained.
"Of course," the woman said after a pause. "Please, come in."
Despite being ANBU, the elite shinobi tracking him could not enter the clan without express permission, so they could do nothing but watch Naruto as he entered the area.
The woman lead Naruto into the main building, which didn't look too well taken care of. She continued through several passageways before leading him to a room. Sliding the doors back, she bid him to enter the room, and followed him in, closing it as she entered.
She kneeled down on a cushion in the center of the room, and waved her hand at a cushion that sat in front of her. "Please, sit. Tell me what you are here for. Your story shows many holes and could not fool one as skilled as I am in deception," she said pompously.
Naruto responded by unsealing the katana that Hanzo had given to him.
The woman took one look at the weapon and immediately gasped. "The Kuroryujin," she murmured softly. "How do you have it?"
"I defeated the previous owner in battle and he gave it to me, telling me to bring it here to receive your loyalty."
The woman looked up at him in surprise.
"Yes, I will need help within a few years," he answered her unasked question. "I plan on leaving my village to start my own, and so I've been recruiting people that would join me."
"Of course...Yahiko-sama. Anything would be better than staying in this place," she said disgustedly. "We, as in the Hattori clan, were once the strongest samurai clan. Nowadays, we are ridiculed as a pathetic clan that is now as useful as a three legged hunting dog. If my ancestors were alive right now, they'd kill themselves just as quickly to escape from this dishonor!"
Naruto, listening to her impassioned speech, nodded his head.
"How will we know when to come to you?" the woman asked.
"In four or so years, I will fire a flare into the sky several miles away from Iwa. That will be your signal. When the Iwa shinobi go to investigate, I want you and your clan to sneak out and meet me here," he told her, before giving her a map with a circled area.
"Allow me to call in the rest of the family, so that I may inform them of your intentions," the current head of the family suggested, before she got up and went to a bell on the side. Grabbing the rope in her hands she pulled down twice, making a loud ringing noise that sounded through the compound. She then went back to her place before "Yahiko".
A few minutes later, a group of twenty or thirty people gathered in the room.
"Chikara-sama?"
'Ah, so that's her name,' Naruto thought to himself.
The woman, Chikara, turned to face her family and held the Kuroryujin in her hands. Low murmurs immediately broke out within the group.
"This man, Morisa Yahiko, has brought back our clan sword. By clan laws, we are to swear loyalty to this man, and he is here to receive our oaths now."
All but one man swore their oaths. When they were done, the young man yelled out, "I refuse to believe that some nobody killed Hanzo-sama and managed to take the sword from him! He must've stolen it or something!"
"Quiet fool! Watch your mouth!" a girl beside him hissed. She was a young girl that looked to be around ten or so. She had long brown hair, apparently tied up in a ponytail. She was currently glaring at the man who shouted out.
"But Mika, don't tell me you would believe that his loser could kill someone as great as Hanzo-sama!" the young man protested.
'Mika? As in Hanzo's little "Mika-chan"?'
The girl's response was cut off by Chikara, who chose to answer to the outburst with a glare. "You will do as I say, nay, as Yahiko-sama says. Or else you will be punished," Chikara hissed, stressing the word "punished".
The young man bowed his head and swore his oath before he muttered, "Yes Chikara-sama. Forgive my outburst, Yahiko-sama."
Naruto accepted the apology without a word. Looking down at himself, he then decided to do something drastic. Quickly erasing the seal, his permanent Henge was then dispelled revealing his true self.
"As you should know, that was not the real me. This is. And you should also know, Yahiko is not my real name. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, current genin of Konoha."
"Genin?" Chikara asked, surprised.
"Yes."
"Ah, Naruto-sama! There is one more of us, but she is not here right now..."
"You mean Yuki? I have already spoken to her, so you need not worry," Naruto said dismissively.
Mika, the young girl from earlier, perked up at the mention of Yuki.
"Yuki-neechan? You spoke to her? Do you know how she's doing? Is she doing well in the chuunin exams in Konoha?" she fired off rapidly, before blushing when she realized what she just did.
"Yes I spoke to her, she's doing fine, and unfortunately, she was eliminated from the exams during the second round, as her two teammates were killed."
"You mean those two pricks Ieyasu and Kenichi?" Mika snorted.
"Mika!" Chikara snapped at the younger girl.
"Yes," Naruto responded with a small smile.
"Do you know who killed them?" the girl asked eagerly. She seemed to have a vendetta against the two.
"I did," Naruto informed her.
"Does that mean you're in the exams too?"
"Yup. Unfortunately, Yuki was technically an enemy of mine, so I had to eliminate her team from the exams."
"Eh, that's ok. As long as those two bastards suffer!"
Ignoring her continuing rant against the two deceased Iwa genin, Naruto turned to Chikara and told her, "I need to place a seal on all of you. It will erase all memories of me, and instead supply fake memories. That way, you can never incriminate yourself in planning on betraying Iwa. However, the seal is complicated. It will take some time to create enough seals for this many people."
"Of course," they chorused together. They were loyal, and they would do anything to prove their loyalty. It did not matter who the master would be. As long as the master had the Kuroryujin, then they would be sworn in as master.
Some time later, Naruto had finally finished creating enough seals for the clan, and some more for later. Applying them was pretty easy, as the seal itself disappeared the moment it touched the servant's body. It was still there, of course, but it was just undetectable. The only drawback that Naruto had found to this seal was that the target had to be willing to become your servant. Otherwise, it would do nothing but irritate whoever you slapped the seal on.
"I must leave now. I am on a busy schedule." Taking the Kuroryujin back, he stepped out of the room, listening to the scrambles of the clan, as they prepared themselves for their duty to their new master in a few years.
-
Stepping out the compound, two ANBU immediately appeared in front of Naruto.
"The Tsuchikage would like to see you," one said monotonously.
"Of course, ANBU-san!"
Outwardly he was all smiles and laughs, but inside, he was in a panic. He was good, a lot better than any genins (better than many chuunins and some jounins too). He knew that. However, if the Tsuchikage was calling him into his office for a trap, there was no way he could defeat the elder man and whatever ANBU he may have hiding around the area. The question now was, should he try to escape, or should he play along in case it wasn't a trap?
His internal debate was halted when he realized that they were nearing a set of heavy stone doors. The doors creaked open slowly, and the ANBU leading Naruto walked forward, after looking back at the disguised genin with a glance that told him to follow.
Naruto warily stepped forward, with the second ANBU walking behind him.
The first thing he noticed was the staircase made of stone leading downwards. The next thing he noticed was that it was very dim in there. A line of lights were strung up along each side of the wall, but the lights were so weak it wasn't enough to illuminate the entire way down.
After quite some steps down, Naruto was eventually led into a maze of rooms, before stopping at a massive stone wall. In front of the wall, a lady sat at her desk, with piles of paper looming over her head, while two chuunin stood behind her.
"We're here to bring the visitor to Tsuchikage-sama," the ANBU in front announced.
With a nod of their head, one of the chuunin turned his back to Naruto and did what Naruto guessed were several hand seals, before slapping his hand to the wall. The wall opened to reveal a spacious room fit for a Kage. As if to prove this fact, the man from earlier, the Tsuchikage, sat at a desk in the center of the room.
"Yahiko-san, was it?" the man asked. "My name is Yamashiro Sano."
"Nice to meet you, Tsuchikage-sama."
"Oho, please, call me Sano," the Tsuchikage rumbled out. "Now, I called you here because I have a single question for you." Leaning forward with his hands placed firmly on the desk in front of him, he continued, "Who is the seal expert you hired?"
"Huh? You called me here just for that? I thought it was something much more serious, Sano-sama. However, it is unfortunate that you must ask this question, because I do not have an answer for this. All i know is that he goes by the name of Seal." It was a blatant lie on his part, but he could not think of something more useful.
"Seal," Sano repeated. "Right. Well, I'll have my men look into that name then. Can you tell me anything else about him? Like what he looks like, where he's from, anything?"
"Well, he's tall, he has brown hair, and I know he's from...Taki."
"Thank you very much for the information."
It was a good thing that Sano was a man that used his muscles more than he used his mind.
As Naruto got up to leave with a relieved sigh, he heard the telltale sign of a weapon being unsheathed.
Kyuubi spoke up then with a growl. Watch out!
An ANBU had taken out a wakizashi and attempted to stab him in the back, but he had spun around quickly, narrowly avoiding being impaled.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, feigning a confused expression. It wouldn't hurt to try to milk some information out of this while he tried to stall for time.
"Iwa is in a bad time right now," Sano started sadly. "While the other nations have their own seal masters, our country's people just has never shown a great tendency to the art of fuinjutsu. If the other nations learn about this great weakness of ours, they could capitalize on this, since seals are used quite frequently in the defense of each nation. And since you have learned that we are desperately looking for an accomplished seal master, we cannot let you leave. Thanks for the information though," the man say with smirk. He snapped his fingers, and two more ANBU appeared in the room. All three had their weapons unsheathed, while Sano stood behind them at his desk with a smug grin on his face and his hands clasped behind his back.
Things were not looking good for Naruto.
-
'Blow my cover and try to fight my way out, which has a small chance of succeeding, or run like a civilian, which has no chance of succeeding?' Naruto thought as he stared down the three threatening wakzashis.
He stumbled backwards and used his hand to blindly search for the way out. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that he remembered that the chuunin standing in front of the room had used a Doton jutsu to move the door. It was supposed to be a top secret jutsu guarded carefully by Iwa so that intruders could not enter the room without blowing up the entire thing, which would basically get rid of any attempts of stealth.
The door suddenly creaked open and the secretary peeked her head in. "Sir? There's a- AH!"
Naruto, seeing his chance to escape, pushed past her and barreled out.
Thankfully, he had taken the liberty to memorize the way to the office, since he already expected this to be a trap of some sort. It was a trap, but not the kind he had in mind. He had expected to be killed for being a spy, not because he supposedly knew about Iwa's big weakness.
Left, left, right, left, right, right...
His feet pounded against the stone floors of the underground maze as he made several turns that seemed to be randomly picked.
Yes! He could see the stairs!
This was a good thing as at the top of the stairs was the exit. He ran up the many stairs before slamming his shoulder into the stone. It pushed it open, thankfully, but it injured his shoulder too.
Clutching his bruised shoulder, he emerged into the sunlight, only to be surrounded by the three ANBU from the Tsuchikage's office.
"How'd you guys get out here so quickly?" Naruto asked, bewildered. He normally wouldn't care, but he still had to keep up his "Yahiko" farce, and a civilian probably would care.
"It's a secret!" Sano's voice sang out from behind. The larger man emerged from the door behind Naruto, effectively trapping him. "You're quite fast for a civilian, you know?"
Thankful that he was still thought to be a civilian, he responded with a shaky laugh, "Well, when there are three ANBU chasing you, you tend to run a little faster."
"Well now, I'm afraid that your time is up," the Tsuchikage returned.
"You're going to kill me in front of all these people?"
"To protect this village, I will do what I must!"
"Even murder an innocent tourist of an imaginary crime?" Naruto said loudly, hoping to attract the attention of some villagers and perhaps cause a commotion.
"You are no innocent tourist! You possess crucial information about this village's defense, and we cannot let that information leave our hands!"
Naruto's hopes were dashed when no villager came to his aid. Perhaps he should use his shinobi skills? Not only would it expose him as being a shinobi, it would also put the Hattori family under suspicion, since he had only visited that single place in his time as a "tourist". Even the seal would not help save their lives.
Seeing no other way to get out of this alive, he sighed. He would have to reveal more things about himself, even if it was a half-lie.
Unsealing the wakizashi that he stole from the (dead) guard at Gato's old mansion, he wielded it like an expert, which he almost was.
"Not only were my ancestors samurai, but so am I!"
He attempted to slash through the three ANBU, but all three jumped away in time.
Taking this time to run, Naruto turned towards the gate and ran like the flames of hell were after his feet.
The ANBU and the Tsuchikage followed his trail. They kept up with him easily, but they let him run to tire him out. It was unfortunate for them that they still believed he was a mere above average civilian.
As soon as he got to the gate, he knew he had to use chakra to climb over it. There was no other way to get out!
Taking this chance, he forced chakra to his feet and leapt onto the gates, running up vertically. The chuunin at the gate stared at him in surprise, before all went dark when Naruto slammed the butt of the wakizashi into his temple. The chuunin guard collapsed bonelessly to the ground.
Leaping down to the other side of the gates of Iwa, he continued to run, this time at full speed. By the time the ANBU and Sano were over the wall too, Naruto was already far away.
"Send the hunter nins," Sano commanded, and an ANBU nodded before disappearing. "He must be eliminated!"
-
Naruto ran without stopping. He could only stop once he crossed the border between Earth Country and Grass Country, as a simple act like having a hunter nin cross a border could be interpreted as a declaration of war.
The mountainous area soon began to turn to large forests as he got closer and closer to Kusa.
Unfortunately for the Konoha genin, a border patrol happened to be in his way.
'Shit! Stupid border patrols,' he thought to himself angrily.
The chuunin were unusually alert, due to the fact that they were informed by radio to be on the lookout for anyone trying to cross the border.
"Spread out. Make sure no one crosses the border. Eliminate anyone who tries to sneak past," the lead chuunin commanded his subordinates.
Unsealing his violin, he cast a quick genjutsu over himself that would hopefully fool the chuunin's senses. It was a weak genjutsu, and any quick movements would dispel it, but it was handy since it was harder to detect than most illusions. By also using the violin, it increased the genjutsu's ability to conceal him from enemies even better, although it was still just as easy to dispel.
Slowly inching his way forward, he kept telling himself to inch a little faster, as the hunter nins could chance upon him at any second now.
A sudden thought struck him. 'I should probably go place the Memory Suppression Seal on the rest of those who have sworn their loyalty to me when I get back to Konoha.' Shaking his head quickly, he then thought, 'That was random...'
He then reminded himself that he had a seal on! So all he had to do was take the seal off and look like his real self, right?
Wrong!
If he approached a chuunin patrol looking like his real self, they'd start screaming "It's the Yondaime!" or some shit like that, and that would blow his stealth straight to hell. Not to mention, the Sandaime would find out about it too. And that was the biggest no-no he could make on this trip. Not only would he never be allowed to leave the village, but the old man would place ANBU to watch him, and that would greatly restrict his ability to scout out potential followers, something he planned to frequently do over the course of four years.
Naruto's contemplations were rudely interrupted by one of the two chuunin left around the area.
"Shit, I gotta take a whiz. Cover me, will ya?"
The second chuunin looked at his partner in disgust. "How unprofessional," he muttered loudly so that both Naruto and his partner could hear.
"Hey man! Nature calls! It ain't my fault!"
The chuunin stomped over to his partner and would've slapped him in the head if that wouldn't have caused the urine to spray everywhere (and possibly on his feet).
Naruto couldn't believe his luck! The two chuunin were standing off to the side, arguing about taking a leak during guard duty, causing their attention on their surroundings to decrease. They, still being (somewhat) experienced chuunin of Iwa, were smart to keep turn their heads back and forth to casually check for intruders. Ah, the the sin of sloth, at its finest.
Now, all he had to do was time it so that he could dash past the two when both of their heads were not looking towards the Kusa border.
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait...
There!
Straining his legs to the fastest it could carry him, he dashed across the border, only to hear shouts from behind.
"Holy shit! Intruder! Get him!"
The first chuunin (the one who just finished taking a piss), protested, "But he crossed the border! If we cross too, Kusa will declare war on us!"
"Then we'll just eradicate that backwater country! They don't even have an official Kage, you moron!" the second chuunin (the more professional one) shouted back. "And not only that, but the Tsuchikage gave strict orders not to let anyone cross the border. What do you think he's going to do to us if he finds out we let someone through?"
"Um, then just don't tell him, duh!" the first shouted back.
"He's the Tsuchikage! You think you can just lie to his face and get away with it? He may not be some kind of scholar, but he's smart enough to tell the difference between the truth and a lie."
Naruto, who was quickly escaping due to the two's bickering, caught the last part of what they said, only to chuckle ironically. The man had fallen to his lies very easily. Perhaps that just shows how "smart" the people of Iwa in general are?
"Hey, he's getting away!" the first suddenly pointed out.
Turning towards Naruto, the second chuunin immediately started to chase him.
From what I've noticed, you seem to resemble this Tsuchikage fellow. The both of you tend to use your muscles more than your brains. Use a Kage Bunshin, you simple-minded mortal! the loud voice of the Kyuubi roared.
Momentarily cursing his own stupidity, Naruto then performed the jutsu, forming a single Kage Bunshin.
"Run northeast to Taki, and then easy to Oto. Try to convince them you're Oto. It wouldn't hurt to stack more evidence against them anyway," Naruto commanded the clone.
As soon as the clone pulled away to do as commanded, Naruto jumped down into the bushes and hid there, waiting for the two chuunin to pass by and follow the clone.
"Get him! He's heading that way!" the second chuunin called out to companion as they leapt away from where Naruto had been hiding.
That had been a close call. A very close call, indeed.
Sighing in relief, he got up and stretched his limbs before leaping up back into the branches of the trees of Kusa.
-
Four days of light jogging, some sightseeing, and some training later, Naruto was back inside Konoha. The Sandaime, of course, had been notified the moment Naruto stepped through the gates.
The blond had plans for "accidentally" bumping into his followers to meet with them, but then an ANBU had arrived, informing him that the Hokage wanted to see him.
And no one really refused the Hokage. Especially not a genin.
So, heading to the tower, Naruto jumped up the several flights necessary and reached Sarutobi's top-floor window, opening it and leaping in.
"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked calmly.
The Professor looked up from his paperwork. "Yes. I wanted to know how things went on your training trip, and why you're here so early. I thought that you weren't going to return until a few days before the exam, yet here you are, with over a week left until it begins."
"I felt that I had trained enough to totally surpass this year's competition, so I decided to cut my training trip short to return here. I was also sure that there were...things that you would've wanted my help on," Naruto responded.
Sarutobi shook his head. "No. Nothing at all. Go return to your home, take the day off, or do whatever."
"Hai."
-
Hanabi, desperate about leaving Konoha with Naruto and proving her worth, trained frequently in the Forest of Death area. The ferocious creatures and aggressive man-eating plants were good for her training, as she could practice many different techniques on them without getting in trouble. The problem though was that since her attacks mainly focused on strikes to human's tenketsu points, it made training that style of fighting difficult, seeing as how her targets had very different anatomies than humans. This lead to her creating new techniques usable only by Hyuuga, many of which were exhausting and chakra draining. Besides new Hyuuga techniques, she also asked the Sandaime to allow her into the jutsu library. The Hokage had graciously allowed her access to the chuunin section of the library, where she learned a few extra ninjutsus that would hopefully be helpful in the future.
Speaking of the Sandaime, the man had approached Hanabi about three weeks ago, informing her of her teammate's desire to leave on a training trip. She was clever enough to understand that his real objective probably wasn't to "train", but to find the other people he wanted in his inner circle. She wasn't sure if he had succeeded or not, though.
'Stop wandering!' Hanabi thought to herself. She was losing her focus. 'I will train myself to be the best Hyuuga to ever live. On my life, I so swear!'
-
There were two followers in Konoha he knew he wanted to use the Memory Suppression Seal on: Yuki and Shiso. Since Madoka wasn't going to return to Kumo (she'd be married off before he could call her), she did not need the seal. She was going to stay here in Konoha, right under the entire village's noses. Hanabi, Hana, Anko, and Kurenai, all people he either already convinced or planned on convincing to join him did not need the seals either, as they also were not in any danger for knowing him, unlike the Iwa genin and the Kiri genin.
To find the two, Naruto decided to visit all of the hotels in Konoha, which thankfully didn't number too high. A few subtle questions at each hotel under a Henge would more than likely get him his information.
He struck gold at the fourth hotel. The secretary, a woman known to gossip, easily spilled everything she knew when subtly inquired about the Kiri or Iwa entourage.
"Have you seen the foreign shinobi?" Naruto had asked under a Henge. "They're tough-looking, but I bet it's nothing that the Uchiha couldn't handle!"
Just saying these words mentally hurt Naruto.
"Omigosh! Yeah! The Kiri entourage, those people with the squiggly lines on their head band thingies, are staying here, at this very hotel!" the clerk responded excitedly. "And I heard that the Kumo and Iwa delegations are staying at a hotel down the street. In the same hotel! My friend, who's also a secretary there, told me that there might be some fights in the hotel! Oh it's so exciting!"
Thanking her, Naruto then left the hotel. Now that he knew where the two groups were staying, he could easily meet up with them at another time.
He was heading to his home when he heard his name being shouted.
"Naru-chan!"
"Naruto-kun!"
"Hello, Anko, Kurenai," Naruto responded.
"We heard that you went on a training trip!" Kurenai half stated half asked.
Naruto nodded.
"Well, did you learn anything new?" Anko asked excitedly.
Another nod.
"Show us!" the purple-haired demanded.
"Sorry, I'm busy...doing...something! Yeah, something. Bye, Anko, Kurenai." Naruto then left quickly.
Unfortunately, the self proclaimed dango mistress snaked an arm through Naruto's and pulled him back, bringing his head to her bosom.
"You're not going anywhere until you show us something new!" she shouted.
The civilians nearby turned their head to see what the commotion was about, only to see a boy being smashed into an older woman's breasts. The fact that the "older woman" in question was wearing very little in terms of clothing did not help hide the gushing of blood that many of the older males suffered.
Kurenai took two steps back, ashamed to even admit that she knew them.
Naruto tried to say something, but with his face smashed into Anko's generous chest, it came out as something incomprehensible.
"Anko!" Kurenai finally shouted. "Let him go! Or I won't buy you any dango for the next two weeks!"
Anko jumped away from Naruto like he was a leper with a screech. "Ok, ok! I let him go!"
Naruto then proceeded to take a deep breath. Ah, precious air...
"Now, Anko and I are going to dinner. Do you want to join us?"
The blond genin shook his head. "Sorry, I'm tired. Just got back from my training trip, ya know?" he asked. "I'll see you later."
The two women said their farewells (or in Anko's case, hugged their farewells), before departing to wherever they were planning on going before they spotted him.
Arriving home, he threw himself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"How will I ask them to leave with me?" Naruto asked himself.
...Let me talk to Hachimata and Houkou tomorrow, and I will convince them to convince their containers to join you.
"How do you plan on doing that, Kyuubi-sama?"
It does not matter, mortal. Mind your own business.
"...Hai, Kyuubi-sama."
-
A/N: I really really hate it when authors make Naruto so disrespectful of Kyuubi. And when Naruto gets all prissy, going "I demand to know why you attacked Konoha you stupid furball!" it REALLY pisses me off. Why the hell should it have a reason? To Kyuubi, humans are like ants. Why the hell should he care about whether or not he steps on their homes or kills their people? We do the same with ants. We step on anthills, sometimes cuz we're bored, or sometimes cuz it's fun. And some people like to burn ants with fire (or other bugs)! Who's not to say that Kyuubi was taking a walk when he "accidentally" stepped on Konoha?
Back to the disrespect thing. Kyuubi is the strongest demon...ever. Just because it's stuck in you doesn't mean it can't do SOMETHING. I refuse to believe that a human could totally ensnare a demon as great as Kyuubi, rendering it as helpless as a baby fox. If Naruto wants to disrespect Kyuubi, then he better be fucking stronger than the fox.
Another thing that just bothers me is the kit thing. It just doesn't sit right, reading stories where Kyuubi always says "Hey kit". That's why you'll notice that I have not done that once in my story.
Sorry about the rant. I've just been reading lots of stories like that recently...
BIG NOTE: My information on the Memory Suppression Seal was from chapter 30 of Artful Lounger's Kage no Naruto, which is an unbelievably awesome story that needs to be read. Also, if you haven't realized, the seal is used by Sasori in canon. The part about using the seal to track people was made up by Lounger's creative mind.
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Original Techniques: (Please, if you know Japanese, tell me if any of these things make sense, cuz I'm really just making things up here.)
Katon: Kaensho Haki - Fire Release: Flame Thrower
Smaller version of the Katon: Goukakyuu. Due to its smaller size, the user can focus it in one area, unlike the Goukakyuu, which is a wide-scale destruction technique. This also makes it more powerful. Perfect jutsu to start a forest fire.
Katon: Kazangan Kotetsu - Fire Release: Lava Armor
Utilizing his mastery over fire, Naruto coats the earth with his fiery chakra and forces it to cover him, basically encasing him a suit of armor made of lava.
Katon: Hidama no Hitoame - Fire Release: Shower of Fireballs
Basically, this technique creates a firestorm. Fireballs the size of a small meteor will rain down on the enemy. This can be considered the big brother of the Katon: Housenka, which releases small fireballs the size of a shuriken. Ranked S for its destructiveness and difficulty to master.