Chapter 7- Silvery Flowers in the Red Dawn
He numbly waded through the silvery water, feeling a hypnotic voice reaching out for him. His image followed his wake in the cracked mirrors set into the walls. Pipes wound in and out of them, leaving an eerie sound as water dripped from them. There was no light except from the end of the hall where a dull red glow shone.
Naruto's eyes were half-lidded as he walked, not knowing where he was going; just following the sweet voice that whispered for him. Although his body was moving on a whim of its own, his mind was aware of what was going on. He knew this labyrinth, but he couldn't place where he remembered it from.
"Come here… my Naruto," a soft, sweet voice whispered.
It was so soft compared to the voices that always followed him whenever he walked down the streets of Konoha; shouts of 'demon' and other colorful names chased him wherever he went. This voice, though… it was so sweet to his ears, like a soft serenade in the moonlight. All of his pains just seemed like a thousand miles away right now.
"I know your deepest desires…I can give them to you," echoed the voice.
It seemed like it would give him what he dreamed of all of his life. Everything he wanted- the power to become a kage and to protect those he cared about, to be loved and cared by someone, to just plain be wanted and needed- and it seemed this voice could give him all of it.
"Just follow my voice…" it said, caressing his ears.
Naruto turned the corner, entering the antechamber and finding the originator of the voice seductively walk out of the shadows. It was the infamous Kyuubi, but what was off with her was that she seemed almost… welcoming.
She motioned him to come closer, looking so innocent, but underneath it all his senses screamed at him; no matter what she wanted, her intentions were and always will be evil. Even then, he couldn't help it; his legs were moving on their own, guiding him ever closer to his worst nightmare.
The closer he walked to the gate that contained his inner demon, the more feral Kyuubi became, abandoning her loving demeanor for something a bit more fitting of her nature.
In his mind, he screamed for himself to stop, but even then he still slid past the bars and the clear barrier separating him from her. Her eyes gave off an ominous crimson glow while becoming fox like and her hair became messier. Everything about her now screamed 'malicious', including the fanged smile she gave him.
"You belong to me, Naruto-kun," she said whispering into his ears.
Kyuubi took a step back, still wearing her evil smile. Faster than his eyes could track, her clawed hand wrapped itself around his neck, slowly choking him to death.Naruto shot out of his nightmare, flinging cold sweat off of his head across the bed he was lying on. He breathed hard, glad that his windpipe wasn't being crushed anymore by a certain redheaded bitch.
The blond laid his head on his pillow, wiping away the sweat covering him. That was one nasty nightmare, and part of him knew that it was his tenant telling him that he had made a bad choice when he chose not to use her power.
The devil was a girl in a red dress with a large rack. If he told anyone that, they would probably laugh their asses off, but it was the truth. She was seductive, and he had never heard such a sweet voice in his entire life. It was a funny thought to him that the nine-tailed fox was trying to seduce him to get her way, another thing that many people would probably laugh about.
He sighed as he felt the chakra feeding his Kyoukagan on instinct; probably because of the adrenaline was running through his body. With a mere thought, he stopped feeding his silvery eyes the spirit-like energy, causing them to turn back into crystal-blue.
His head looked over to the side where his alarm clock usually presided, only to see that it wasn't there. He blinked his eyes in confusion, trying to figure out where it had gone. It was only when he lifted up his head did he discover he was at Iruka's house again. That's when his memories of yesterday's incident returned. Naruto guessed that his former teacher worried enough that he felt it would be a good thing to let him stay over for the night.
Sighing, the sun-kissed boy got out of bed, still wearing his clothes. After a dream like that, he didn't know if he wanted to sleep.
His eyes caught the moonlight, glinting in what little of it shown through the closed window. It had been a while since he last looked upon it, not since he visited Haku's and Zabuza's hideout. There was something relaxing about staring at it.
Seeing no one nearby, he slid off his goggles and opened up the window. He allowed a peaceful smile to trace his face as he got onto the rooftop. The gentle breeze going through Konoha only made for a perfect moment to think and straighten out his mind.
Anko was not a heavy sleeper. Dropping a pin in the middle of the night was enough to wake her. She often thought it was because of her traitorous teacher that her body acted this way, allowing some of her paranoia to get the best of her until the day that Orochimaru might die.
So, when somebody walked on the roof, all of her senses went wild. Her first thought was someone had broken in, but she didn't hear anymore noise when the intruder stopped on the top of the roof. If the person stopped there, they weren't obviously burglars- not that it would be smart in the first place to steal from a shinobi. Who would be up at this time of night in the first place? It almost had to be three o'clock in the morning.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she got off the couch she slept on- Iruka allowed her to stay the night because of the Mizuki incident yesterday- and walked over to the windows. Quietly, she slid it open and, like a shadow, moved on the walls using chakra.
When she peaked past the roof line, the last thing she expected to see was Naruto, quietly staring at the moon. His back was turned to her, not even sensing her presence.
She allowed a pang of sadness to go through her being. Even though he didn't know it, they both were a lot alike. Both of them were looked down upon by the villagers; she was the snake's student and he was the container of the Kyuubi. If she had known his life was such hell, she would've allowed herself to know him earlier. Loneliness was the worst form of torment one could experience.
Naruto stared at the moon, his thoughts still a maelstrom of confusion. When he heard a voice, he jumped a couple inches into the air from surprise.
"What's up brat?" he heard the person ask.
He turned to meet the voice and was slightly shocked to see Anko staring at him with her hands on her hips. Though, it might've been his imagination, her eyes seemed to be stained with a mixture of curiosity and something he could only recall Kakashi, Iruka, and the Sandaime showing: worry.
"What the hell are you doing here at Iruka's house?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Anko was already starting to take a liking to him. "For your information, Maggot, he allowed me to stay here for the night. Now, mind telling me what's wrong?"
For the first time, she saw Naruto's silvery pupils as he stared at her, seeing if she was trustworthy. It was almost unsettling to see the glistening eyes looking at her, like he was staring into her soul. Now she understood why the Hokage and the others found these eyes so fascinating; they really were beautiful. Though, she would probably slit her own throat before openly saying it.
Finally, he gave a shrug and turned back to the moon, silently telling her she could join him. Anko did just that and took a seat next to him.
"Why aren't you wearing your goggles like usual?" she asked, trying to get a conversation started.
He thought about it for several seconds. "I don't like to wear them, but at the same time I do so that I can hide my eyes… and to remember a friend of mine."
The last part he spoke in a whisper, but it was enough to tell her what happened yesterday wasn't his first encounter with death.
This also told her something else: He wanted nothing more to show off his eyes, but at the same time he didn't want to flaunt it like the Uchiha. Naruto, at least to her, was very humble, thinking of the right thing to do. Now Anko understood why Iruka took such an interest in the blond; the teacher saw past the mask.
"We're a lot alike you know," she quietly said, catching his interest. "We're both not really liked by the village; I'm known as that 'snake bitch', and that's putting it nicely. They're a couple names I don't want to remember being called, but I know what it's like."
Naruto stared at her with a newfound respect. He was curious to know why she was called such things, but instead found himself biting his tongue; things like that were kept to one's self unless they wanted to talk about it.
"Thanks," he whispered.
She knew the underlying message; it was a thank-you for being there. "Eh, no problem, just don't get mushy on me."
They stayed silent, enjoying the other's company. A simple connection and newfound respect for the other had been established.
Anko was now enjoying the idea of Iruka and her keeping an eye on Naruto. Before they were dismissed, the aged man gave them the task of keeping Naruto safe and preventing anyone from finding out about the Kyoukagan. At first, she didn't think she'd enjoy this duty, but after this single moment, Anko found herself looking forward to it.
Likewise, the only time Naruto met Anko growing up was whenever he happened to be in the Hokage's office when she something to report. He never gave a second thought about this woman, scratching her off as nothing more than a random (if psychotic) lady. Now, he found himself having to change that view; she was like him.
"How come you're awake?" Anko asked out of the blue.
To her interest, the blond boy sighed. "Nightmare."
"That's understandable; I have them a lot too."
"Why are you awake?" Naruto asked, finding it his turn in the game of twenty questions.
"You woke me up when you ran across the roof. It doesn't take much to wake me up," she answered. "Why do you call it Kyoukagan?"
Naruto looked caught off guard by the question, but chose to indulge her of the name's origin. She found it strange how he could come up with such a name, but hearing the story of it, it was fitting in more way than one.
Afterwards, the blond asked her why the villagers didn't like her, and she told the tale. Naruto cold only wonder why somebody would betray another person like that, let alone a whole entire village. Anko, though, kept the information on her cursed seal to herself; that was a little piece of her past she didn't like to indulge to anyone.
Afterwards, the two sat there in a comfortable silence, but sooner than the two thought possible, the sky began to look like a painted canvas. They both talked away into the remainder of the night, taking time to understand the other, knowing they were probably going to be encountering each other a lot.
"I'm going to go and meet up with my team," said Naruto, who was now standing and working out the kinks in his back. "Thanks for that."
"Yeah, no problem; go and kick ass today," Anko tried to encourage… in her own unique way.
"As long as it doesn't involve cats, today will be a good day," he thought with a sigh.
With that, the two departed from each other's company for the day. Naruto did so with one of his true smiles playing his lips; he found someone he could add to his 'precious person' list.
Sasuke was surprised to see his goggle-wearing teammate at the usual spot much earlier than him, which was a miracle by itself since Naruto usually was the last one here, next to Kakashi-sensei. The blond sat on the rails of the bridge while thinking, staying quiet as he stared off into space.
Of course, that didn't last when he greeted him: "Hey! Bastard! Did you get all of your needed beauty sleep?"
If Sakura was here, Naruto could imagine himself getting a knuckle sandwich for that little comment, but oh did it feel good to taunt the Uchiha!
Sasuke wrinkled his nose in annoyance, but kept his remarks to himself; it was too early in the morning to butt heads with the dead last.
"What's wrong? Weasel got your tongue?" taunted Naruto.
Naruto had little idea just how much that particular retort got under Sasuke's skin. It pissed him off so much that the raven-haired boy leapt across the bridge with his Sharingan active. Just as the Uchiha leapt at him, Naruto slipped and stuck himself to the bridge with chakra, making his rival fly past him and land in the cold water. The whole time, the blond was laughing his ass off at getting under his rival's skin.
"When I get my hands on you, I'm going to kill you, Dobe!" he threatened from the water below.
"Oh, so wee-little Sasuke hates weasels?" the blond taunted with a grin.
Naruto felt that it was time to retreat when the Uchiha began the hand seals for a fire jutsu he didn't feel the need to stick around for. Just as Sasuke blew out a large fireball, Naruto leapt onto the bridge, still wearing his prankster grin even as a fountain of fire blew from behind his back.
When he turned to walk away to other side of the bridge to avoid being the subject of Sasuke's torture sessions, he felt his Bloodline Limit sensing capabilities go haywire. His head swiveled as he tried to find the man, only to jump backwards as he found him right behind his back. The newcomer looked down at him with a mixture of amusement and interest as he held his hands in his pockets.
Sasuke looked murderous as he climbed out of the water sopping wet, but stopped from committing a homicide as he saw a jounin he didn't recognize scrupulously studying Naruto, who was now starting to get nervous –the blond didn't exactly like the feeling of being under a microscope.
"Well, my first thoughts of you two are that you don't get along well. Am I right?" the newcomer asked with a smile.
It was Naruto's turn to ask who the strange man was, "And you are…?"
"You can call me Yamato, and I'm your substitute sensei until Kakashi-senpai gets back from his mission," the now named Yamato answered.
"When will sensei get back?" asked Sasuke.
"He's supposed to be away for about a week."
The headgear-wearing ANBU turned his attention back to Naruto, who was now looking at him with cat-like curiosity, going so far as to cock his head to the side.
It didn't surprise him; he knew about the Bloodline Limit sensing capabilities of the Kyoukagan, at least from what Hokage-sama disclosed. He was going to have to wait till later, though, to look past the goggles.
"Okay you two," began Yamato, "we have some missions we have to get underway. So let's head to the Hokage tower and get the orders from Hokage-sama."
The two remaining members of Team Seven groaned at the thought of doing the chores of some lazy-ass person.
"He's better than I thought. Here I was thinking that we were going to watch some whiny ass kid; but it's funny… come to find out we're both a lot alike," Anko told Iruka.
Both of them were sitting at Ichiraku's for lunch, Iruka taking advantage of his break from teaching wannabe ninjas and Anko trying to get out of the stuffy interrogation room.
"He quickly grows on you," said Iruka with a smile.
The duck-haired woman leaned on her hand as she continued to think about their little mission from the Hokage. She was working with the guy she secretly liked to protect a Limit that would have God knows how many countries licking their chops at the idea of getting a hold of it. One slip and the world would go down the path to another Great Shinobi War, and all for the sake of one human being. It sounded so simple.
"Hard to believe so much could happen if the wrong person finds out," she noted.
"Yeah, I know. And then there's the Kyuubi to top it all off," Iruka thought allowed. "I don't know why, but Fate seems to hate Naruto a lot."
Anko grunted as she finished off another stick of dango. "That, or he's damn lucky."
"I'll agree with that too. I'm just glad to know that you two will get along."
She grunted again as she went back to eating her favorite dumpling.
Giving her one last glance before resuming eating his own bowl of ramen, Iruka found his new partner very interesting. Anko was right when she said Naruto and her were a lot alike; she was simply an older, female version of his favorite student –albeit, far more sadistic.
"I have question for you," Anko began, grabbing his attention. "You got this powerful Limit, and you're easily S-class; why don't you become a jounin, or something?"
Iruka shrugged as he thought about it, "I don't know. Honestly, I'm just not power hungry like other ninja, and I also like to teach."
That wasn't an answer she was expecting to hear. He just didn't care; all Iruka wanted was a peaceful life with no bells or whistles, which was interesting since most ninja make it a goal to be as powerful as possible. On the other hand, an S-class fighter teaching a bunch of ninja hopefuls could actually lead to a stronger village. Now she understood; he was making the village a better place in his own subtle way.
"I think I get it," Anko said, earning a smile from him. Had she been any other woman, she might have melted at the sight of it, but she had a reputation to keep.
Taking a look at a nearby clock, Iruka sighed, seeing he had to leave for class or he was going to be late. It was usually about this time he had to restore order anyways, or Konohamaru would make things a lot worse than they needed to be.
"I have to go," he said, getting his partner's attention. "If I don't leave now, Konohamaru will probably blow up a toilet or do something to my desk."
"Yeah, I have to be going too," Anko said, while standing up.
Just as she turned around, she remembered wanting to ask him for a date. Too bad he already disappeared for his class when she turned back around. Even though she didn't show it, her mind was inwardly stewing at the thought of missing out on a chance to ask him out.
She left looking a bit more temperamental than normal. Her victims today weren't going to like her.
After catching the same damn cat three times in a row, Naruto was ready to use an icicle to neuter the little beast of burden. Thankfully, Yamato created a wooden carrier so the animal didn't get away again –and to prevent Naruto from playing 'doctor' with the cat.
Yamato's brief show of his Mokuton capabilities already had Naruto drooling at the mouth. Just looking at it, he could see the similarities it shared with his Hyouton; it was an element based Limit. He had to literally prevent himself from copying it.
Sasuke on the other hand was aggravated to have found one other ability outside of the ice techniques that he couldn't copy. By now, many of his fellow clansmen would have a whole arsenal at their disposal; but no, not him! And it was all because his teammate was using attacks he couldn't use!
Finally, the two had been dismissed, but as Naruto was going to head off to his favorite ramen stand, Yamato called for him.
"Hey, you don't mind if you come with me to the nearby training field? There's some things I need to ask you about," the jounin asked.
"No problem" agreed Naruto past clenched teeth, turning his head so slowly to the jounin his neck muscles could be heard squeaking.
The last time he had a bowl of his favorite salty meal was before the Wave mission. He was now going through withdrawals, his food having somehow been taken away from him due to one incident after another. And once again, his precious ramen slipped in between his fingers.
Either way, Naruto followed the Mokuton user over to a nearby training area where the man turned around to face and study him under a microscope once more.
"Alright, tell me what Limits you have copied so far," Yamato ordered.
Naruto stood in shock for a second before his brain registered a quick lie. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't try to lie to me," said Yamato. "Don't worry, I know all about the Kyoukagan. Hokage-sama put me as your sensei for the week for a reason."
"You mean Jiji told you about my eyes?!" yelled the blond, furious that his secret was leaked once more.
"Yes, it's so that I can help train you," Yamato reassured while thinking of way to get on the boy's good side; thankfully he already had one. "Oh, I forgot to mention, I have a Bloodline Limit that you might like copying. You know, from when I made that cage out of wood?"
If there was hostility before, it completely disappeared as Naruto's look of fury did a one-eighty and became one of childish excitement.
"So far I copied," Naruto complied with his foxy grin, counting off his fingers, "Sharingan, Hyouton, Howaido Chakra, and Hyakurai."
Yamato stood there in deep thought. Already the boy had a very capable arsenal, but he could tell that he lacked a lot of experience in using them. That was why he was here, so that he could train him in the use of Hyouton, Mokuton, and maybe Kinzokuton –that was if Sakura was willing to let him copy it.
Speaking of which, he had to pay her a visit tonight.
"Well, I'm going to help you train your Hyouton skills and allow you to copy my Mokuton, if that's alright with you," said the jounin.
"I can?!" Naruto asked with Excitement.
Right after Yamato nodded his head in confirmation the hyperactive blond ripped off his goggles and shattered his eyes to copy the Limit. The older man watched the mirror-like eyes with fascination while Naruto underwent the process of copying.
When he felt the click in the back of his mind, the living maelstrom gave a thumb up. Now he had five Bloodlines at his disposal.
"Alright, now change into Mokuton however way you do it so I can give you the basics," ordered the man.
His new student was quick to comply and willed for his eyes to change. Yamato watched with interest as mirror shards fell out of Naruto's eyes, revealing the same exact black color as his own.
With that small showing of the Kyoukagan, Yamato already found it astounding. A Bloodline Limit that could copy other Limits… this was something completely unheard of. He could see why Kakashi once called the boy the 'most unpredictable ninja in Konoha'. This was about as unpredictable as it would come.
Setting his thoughts aside, he talked about Mokuton, "Alright, first things first…"
By the time Naruto finished his training with Yamato it was around dinner time. He was begging the gods he would be able to sit down and at least enjoy one bowl without interruption.
When he thought of his training, he couldn't help but smile knowing he was learning the Wood Clone Technique. It was right in the alleyway of his favorite attacks, but the best part was that it was far more durable than a normal clone –though, they could only use other Mokuton techniques, which he severely lacked at the moment.
Naruto smiled as he caught sight of his favorite teacher sitting down and enjoying a bowl of ramen for dinner. Next to him sat the ever crazy Anko.
Right on time, Iruka sensed the bioelectricity of the blond and turned around to greet him with his usual friendly smile.
"How was today?" asked the scarred man.
"I copied another Limit called Mokuton from Yamato-sensei," the blond answered as he sat next to him.
"Really? You know you're going to have to master each of those Limits right?"
Naruto grimace at the thought; knowledge and experience of such things didn't come by without hard work. "Yeah, I know, but you're teaching me how to use Hyakurai, Yamato-sensei is teaching me how to use Mokuton and Hyouton, and Kakashi-sensei is teaching me how to use Byaku Chakra; Sharingan is a dead give me."
"That is true," said Iruka, finding himself going into teacher mode about the Sharingan, "but the Sharingan actually takes time and battle experience to add other tomoa."
"I hate it to use it," muttered Naruto, staring at the bowl of ramen in front of him.
"Why would that be, Maggot?" asked Anko from the other side of Iruka.
"I don't want to be like Teme and steal other people's jutsu," he said with slight anger tinting his voice. "They work hard for that stuff and I just don't want to steal it!"
Iruka allowed a soft smile to trace his face. "I can understand that; you don't want power handed to you on a silver platter, but this is something you've got to understand: it's a tool. As shinobi, we need to use all of our tools at our disposal, even if we don't like them."
Naruto looked slightly upset at the idea, but he didn't think of it that way before. He didn't want to use the Sharingan because he didn't want to be like Sasuke or any other Uchiha. If he wanted power, he was going to get it his own way.
"I'll only use it if I have to," said the blond to no one but himself.
Iruka heard it, though, and shook his head. The way his student acted still astounded him sometimes.
Deciding he was going to brighten things up a bit, Iruka turned it onto another subject: "When we're done with dinner, we should head over to a training area so that we can work on Hyakurai. I'm serious when I say I'm not going to pay for another electric outage, even if you did it."
Naruto brightened up. The only thing he found equally addicting to ramen was learning how to use his Kyoukagan and the other Limits he copied.
With a smile on his face, Naruto bit into the first bite of ramen he had in a month. He looked forward to the training session.
Sakura was bored to hell, having had to stay in the hospital until the doctors cleared her. They all said she still occasionally showed signs of whatever happened and they assumed it was going to be at least one more day before it cleared up. At least they would be releasing her tomorrow.
The bubble-gum-haired girl was also upset that her teammates had yet to pay her a visit. Her parents were always visiting, but it would've been nice to see the people she practically lived with during the Wave mission, even if it was the blond idiot.
Then there was the mystery person that gave her the flowers. It couldn't have been Naruto –it wasn't his style; plus the bouquet looked very expensive. Maybe it was Sasuke? As soon as the thought entered her mind, she could feel her inner self starting to giggle with excitement, though would he really do something like that for her? She doubted it, but then again, the two got closer during the Wave mission.
When a man she didn't recognize walked into her room, every ounce of her being screamed in delight that her boredom was about to end for at least several seconds. She shrunk a bit under his studious gaze, but relaxed when he smiled.
From the looks of his uniform, he was a Jounin of some kind with his most unique characteristic being the headgear he was wearing and his almond shaped eyes.
"So, you're the other member of Team Seven?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah…" Sakura trailed, a little unsure of what was going on.
"Your teammates would've made visits, but they've been pretty busy –especially today- with some of the missions we needed done," he explained. "Anyways, you can call me Yamato, and I'm your replacement sensei until Kakashi-senpai gets back from a mission."
"Oh, when will he get back?" she found herself asking.
"Not for about a week, but even when he gets back I'll still be training you and Naruto on a couple things."
"Like what?"
"Well, we're about to find out."
Yamato pulled out a clog of dirt from one of his pockets –Sakura couldn't help but wonder why he was carrying around a clog of dirt- and held it out to her. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the weird gesture, but she took it into her hands anyways. She looked to him for what she was supposed to do.
"Put some chakra into it," he explained.
She did as ordered and felt her mouth drop in shock as the clog began to float in the air. Her shock quickly became playful excitement as she began to experimentally mess with it, making it form and mold like a piece of clay.
To explain how it felt… it felt like the dirt was a part of her. If she'd been any other kunoichi, she might've not liked the idea, but now the thought of playing with it was… exciting. Having the dirt run through her fingers… it felt as natural as breathing.
"How am I doing this?!" she excitedly asked.
"A Bloodline Limit."
As soon as he said the magical words, she lost concentration of the dirt, making it fall into her lap as her eyes became the size of plates. She turned to Yamato and was about to say something akin to rebuke, but stopped as he put up his hand.
"Trust me, it's a Limit, but we'll see what kind here in a second," the ANBU said. "Now, split your chakra in half, using one half to manipulate the dirt."
Sakura did as told, but doing so while noticeably shaking with a mixture of excitement and shock. She had a Bloodline Limit like Sasuke (and maybe Naruto), but how was that possible? None of her family had taken the occupation of a ninja, as far as she knew; no one related to her displayed anything special.
"How… How do I have one?" she asked, having the dirt lazily float above the palms of her hand.
"Don't know. Although it's rare, it's still possible for people to develop a new Limit out of nowhere, though, the odds are very high." But that doesn't mean a single thing if Naruto is your teammate, Yamato added. "Now, will you please shove the other half of the chakra into the dirt?"
She looked at him for a second before she willed the other half of the chakra she had floating in the air next to the dirt into the said material. What happened next was not what she expected: the dirt became a silvery, metallic dust.
"What just…?" she tried to ask, but was interrupted by Yamato.
"How interesting," he said, gaining her attention. "It's a lot like my Mokuton and Naruto's Hyouton in that it's an elemental Limit. I do believe the Sandaime called it Kinzokuton, Metal Release."
In that one moment Sakura realized two things. One was that she really had her own Limit, and the other was that Naruto really did have a Limit of his own like they guessed back at Wave. But that meant that Sasuke and she gone the wrong way around things; they thought he had a Doujutsu, not a Bi-Element. Did this also mean Haku and Naruto were related some way since they both used Hyouton? There were almost a thousand questions brought up by the revelation she couldn't begin to understand.
Yamato noticed how she was trying to take things in, and how she also now looked to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. The man could have sworn her brain was going to smoke at any second. He also had to remind himself that stuff like this had to stay secret.
"Oh, and Sakura," the said girl looked up before her brain could fully malfunction, "you can't tell anybody about this or otherwise you'll put yourself in danger. Many other countries would like nothing more than to steal something like this. Okay?"
"Got it!" she said, faking a smile.
He nodded and just before he left out the door, he turned back to her. "That reminds me, you and Naruto are going to join me each day after we do our usual missions for training."
With those last words he left the hospital. When she felt he was gone, her brain finally switched the safety circuit on, making Sakura's eyes roll in the back of her head as she went unconscious. To discover she somehow had a Limit and then to top off those questions about Naruto… a person's brain could only take so much.
Naruto walked into his apartment satisfied. Well… partially. When he got into his room, he plopped down on his bed to rest after his session with Iruka. Anko was there, hanging out in a tree while discovering more about the two enigmas.
He spent most of the time trying to meditate and get the Hyakurai under control. The bioelectricity was very difficult to get a handle on, but he had no doubt in his mind the training for it was going to be worth a lot.
During that moment, Iruka also told him more information about his Limit. Evidently the training for the Hyakurai began when the person was around the age of seven when their bioelectricity would slowly increase. The Limit doesn't become active until the proper age because the child could harm their selves and anyone around him/her, among other things. The reason the control was second nature to a Hyakurai user was because they had it since a young age. Sadly for Naruto, he had to start from scratch.
After that, his teacher suggested they do some taijutsu practice. That was when he found another flaw to the Hyakurai that had Anko laughing at his expense. Although the brain was thinking faster than was normal, the blond found his body wasn't able keep up. Iruka, having trained in his Limit for his entire life, was running circles around him while he tried to get everything straight.
The abuse stopped when Iruka did a One Thousand Years of Pain Technique- thus why Anko was laughing- but then added a cherry on top; the man allowed some of his superior bioelectricity into the attack, shocking Naruto at the same time.
To simply put it, it didn't feel good. Even now he could still feel the abuse his rectum took.
The blond sighed as he stood up from his bed, his butt still sore from that last attack, so he could take a shower and relax. As he made his way to the doorway, his eyes spied his backpack, still full with Haku's scrolls. It had been a while since he allowed himself to look at them.
With a shrug of his shoulders, he grabbed his bag and made his way to the kitchen table instead. Once he got there, he scattered the scrolls across the table, thinking of which one he should look at first.
Deciding he now had time to look over the taijutsu scroll, he opened it up to study it a bit. Although the medic-nin fighting style was the basis of it, it also had very unique qualities that could be used with Hyouton. Again, he was aggravated he needed senbon, but looking at it, he could see that the fighting style was flexible enough for him to use other weapons. With a couple tweaks here and there, he could actually adapt it for his other Limits as well, but that was going to take a while.
He smiled as he realized something else: it needed a name, but what could he call it?
"I know!" he said, suddenly getting an idea, "How about the Wraith Fist Style? Yeah, that sounds cool!"
Now excited at the thought of learning taijutsu that he could call his own, he turned to the Hyouton scroll. Unrolling it, he skimmed past the Ice Release: Frostbite so that he could get to the next technique.
Before he read what it could do, he burned the name into his mind, already excited at the thought of practicing with it: Crystal Ice Swords Technique. Now he understood why the Wraith Fist was created to adapt: It was because Haku had mastered more than one weapon and he needed a fighting style that allowed some room for creativity.
But how was he going to practice his water and ice jutsu? His days were kind of booked with all of the training he was going to do with Yamato and Iruka. Well there was the shower…
Finding that he had nowhere else to go for the practice, he went to take his shower while training at the same time.
Finally, after having to run halfway across the Fire country and only then to water walk across the ocean to get to Whirlpool, Kakashi was now standing at the gate of Uzumakigakura. It was now night and the moon casted a bright glow on the village.
The place was beautiful, being next to the ocean. The plant life was luscious and colorful as was the rest of the island. Sadly, the place was a ghost town. Not a single speck of life infiltrated the place and the wild was just beginning to take it over once more.
His eyes scanned the place, finding it funny that this village used to be a bustling city. He remembered this was where Kushina, his sensei's wife, heralded from. It would have been nice place to live in back in the day, but because of it being absorbed into one of the larger countries, it became debunked and caused a mass immigration of refugees across the continent.
Finding he spent enough time staring at the ghost town, he leapt on a nearby rooftop and began to head towards the daimyo's tower.
Smaller hidden villages didn't have a Kage of any kind, but relied on daimyos with shinobi based experience and were at least S-class in nature. For the bigger hidden villages, such as Konoha or Kiri, there was the Kage and the daimyo. The daimyo ruled the citizens and the civilians while the Kage headed the ninja community. Both ruled in tandem, but such balance couldn't be found in such a small place like this.
Kakashi leapt onto the tower and stuck to it with chakra, maintaining his speed as he climbed it. With no people here, it was easy to get what he needed, and that was info on the mysterious Kyoukagan.
He got past the window that led into the daimyo's office and only then did he allow himself to relax for the first time that day. For now he would sleep. Tomorrow morning Kakashi would begin to scrounge around for info on the Kyoukagan, and on the last day he would set off for home, hopefully with some useful information.
Sitting in the daimyo's chair, which was surprisingly comfortable for not being used for a long time, he allowed himself to sleep for a couple hours.
The next day, Naruto met up with Sasuke and Yamato and did missions. Once again, Naruto was deciding whether he should neuter the cat, but this time it was with either an icicle or a tree branch, but thankfully Yamato created another carrier cage.
"Please squeeze harder and break its back so we don't have to chase it anymore," muttered Naruto as he watched the tubby woman crush the innocent animal for not the last time.
All of them walked into the Hokage's assignment room and were met by the Sandaime smoking his pipe and Iruka. Naruto smiled at his former teacher, waiting for when he could meet with the man for more lessons on the Hyakurai.
"Good job today," congratulated Sarutobi. "Now, I do believe that is enough missions for the day. Sakura was just dismissed from the hospital, so my suggestion, Tenzo, is to go and meet her."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," agreed Yamato.
He knew what that meant: teach Sakura the basics of her Limit. Though Kinzokuton and Mokuton were different, many of the dynamics were shared, as was the case with all elemental Limits. The ANBU allowed his mind to get a little creative so Sakura could at least have one small technique.
"Alright, you're all dismissed," ordered the aged man.
Sasuke left with his hands in his pockets, going off so that he could train. Yamato went the other direction with Naruto trailing him. The two were headed over to Sakura's house so they could pick her up.
"So, have you been able to master the Wood Clone Technique?" asked the man as the blond walked up next to him.
"No, Iruka-sensei had me practice the Hyakurai; I wasn't able to get any practice in it," Naruto subconsciously rubbed his butt, remembering the one attack his teacher had given him.
"Alright, that's fine," continued Yamato. "With us training with Sakura, it's going to be a little difficult to practice Mokuton. I'll give you scrolls so that you can practice some moves, and when you finally master it I'll give you another. Right now, your teammate thinks that you can only use Hyouton and we need to keep it that way."
"Wait a minute! You told her about my Hyouton?!" chastised Naruto.
"Sometimes in order to keep something secret, you need to let out a small piece so that you can lure away the hunter; better to reveal a small tidbit than the whole thing, right?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," grumbled Naruto.
"Why don't you trust your teammates?" asked Yamato.
"Because Sasuke would throw a tantrum or something and yell it to the whole world," the sun-kissed boy explained, "and Sakura would blab it to Sasuke."
Yamato could understand about Sasuke; said boy had serious lust for power, and to then discover somebody with abilities capable of making anyone green with envy, the Uchiha would lose it. But Sakura on the other hand… if she would get past the fan-girl tendencies then she'd be a valuable ally.
"Well, I kind of understand, but don't you think you could at least trust Sakura?" suggested the Mokuton user.
Naruto thought about it. "Well…but… maybe she wouldn't."
"We'll worry about it later," said Yamato as he walked ahead the blond.
Their conversation stopped as they walked up to the Haruno household. Yamato politely rang the doorbell. Several minutes later, they were welcomed by Sakura at the front door.
"Hey, you're doing better Sakura-chan!" noted Naruto upon seeing her.
"Are you ready for some training on your Kinzokuton?" asked Yamato with a friendly smile.
"But I just got back from the hospital!" the girl whined.
"Yes, but you don't have to worry, we aren't doing anything major today, just some basics," the brown haired man said, trying to convince her to come along.
Sakura wrinkled her nose in aggravation, but stepped out of the doorway anyways. "Fine, I might as well since I'm wearing my training clothes."
About ten minutes later, the small group was at a training ground. Naruto already shattered his eyes to activate his Hyouton while Sakura looked a little nervous at the thought of working with her Kinzokuton for the first time.
"Hey, Yamato-sensei, would you mind if I show you this new technique of mine?" asked Naruto with excitement.
"Of course not," said Yamato, giving his okay as he looked at both of them.
With a grin, Naruto flashed through seven hand seals, ending on 'ox', "Crystal Ice Swords Technique!"
Sakura felt her eyes widen as water formed out of the moisture in the air and began to settle on the blonde's arm, forming a knife that jutted from his wrist to about three inches away from his knuckles.
Naruto gave a nervous laugh. "Uh, it's supposed to be a lot longer, and I'm also supposed to use the other wrist too. But this is pretty good, right?"
"It is both inventive and useful," said Yamato, watching as the ice knife shattered and fell away from the blond, no longer being fed chakra, "but you need to make the sword much faster as well. Time is not on a shinobi's side in the middle of a battle."
Naruto pouted knowing that he still had a lot of work to do on it.
His part time sensei on the other hand was gauging Naruto's skill with his Limits. The blonde's skill with the elemental Limits was quickly improving, showing a natural skill for them. He couldn't gauge how good he was with Sharingan or Hyakurai, and from what Sarutobi had explained a while back, Naruto had an instinctual grasp of Byaku Chakra.
Taking his mind back to the present, Yamato turned his attention onto Sakura. "Alright, last night I was able to come up with a jutsu just for you. You don't have to do it, but with the Kinzokuton, I would heavily suggest it."
Sakura was excited that she was going to learn another jutsu of some kind outside of her Fire Release: Ember Shot, or in a way invent it since she was the first Kinzokuton user ever. "What is it?"
"I'm not going to be the one to name it; I'll leave that to you, but theoretically it'll allow you to create weapons on the spot. Here's the hand seals I thought would work best."
While Naruto was at a nearby pond practicing his newest Hyouton jutsu, Sakura was hard at work memorizing the hand seals. Yamato watched both of them, suggesting adjustments as they went. Just before Sakura was about to try her new jutsu, their sensei put a stopper on her plans.
"Before you do that, I would heavily suggest that you practice your earth manipulation a bit," he suggested.
With a low growl of aggravation, Sakura began to saturate the dirt with her chakra. Once there was enough, she began to make small pillars dance around her. It was peaceful for her and it almost felt as natural as breathing.
After an hour of practicing their attacks, both of them were sweating, Sakura more so since her reserves were tiny compared to the chakra monster that was Naruto. Taking advantage of the break, Yamato began to explain the dynamics of elemental Limits to the two. Neither of them had a single clue their abilities were so complicated.
Once Yamato said their break was done, it was time for Sakura to try out her jutsu for the first time.
"Alright, try something simple, like a senbon, before you try something larger like a katana," suggested the ANBU.
Sakura nodded with a determined gleam in her eyes and then began the seal sequence, ending on 'dragon'.
"Metal Release: Dragonfly Weaver!" she shouted, naming her first metal technique.
Once she yelled out the name of the jutsu, she stuck the ends of her fingers in the dirt and pulled out the weapon she created. When she had done so, Naruto fell to the dirt laughing and Yamato was trying his absolute best to keep a straight face but was failing miserably. Sakura gawked in disbelief as she saw what she was holding. It couldn't even be considered a toothpick, let alone a senbon; the little needle she was holding looked as thin as a hair.
"I can tell that your chakra reserves need a lot of work," Yamato tried to comfort with a smile. "Until you have enough to chakra to pull out a larger weapon, you're going to do a lot of tree climbing. Tonight, I'll try to find a way to get your reserves increased quickly."
Sakura's head fell down at the thought of how much work she had to do. Naruto pulled himself out of his stupor, but still occasionally snickered which earned a punch or two from his teammate.
"That's enough training for the day; meet me here tomorrow so we can work on your Limits more," ordered the jounin, earning a couple of nods from his students.
Sakura left for home while Naruto went his way towards Ichiraku's where he was going to meet with Iruka and Anko for his Hyakurai training. But before he left for them, he thought it was good idea to visit a weapon shop for a pack of senbon.
"So, how was your second day with Team Seven?" asked a curious Sandaime who was now leaning his head against his hands.
"Not bad at all," reported Yamato. "Naruto is highly resourceful and takes to learning new jutsu extremely well; mastering it, though, is a whole other story. Sakura still needs a good deal of practice before she can fully make use of her Kinzokuton. I highly suggest she learns how to use weapons outside of kunai and shuriken too."
"Yes, I agree; do teach Sakura how to use some basic weapons."
"Anything on the Kakashi-senpai's mission yet?"
Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. "He sent me a messenger bird to me detailing how everything is going. So far, information on the Kyoukagan is highly difficult to find. Kakashi has yet to even find a tiny detail or reference to it."
"I guess I should be leaving," said Yamato as he stood up, but before he could leave, the Hokage's aged voice echoed through the room.
"Something worries me," the aged man said, pulling out his pipe and putting some fresh tobacco in it. "Every time the Kyoukagan and Rin'negan has appeared the world changes. The first time, it was the founding of the shinobi world itself, and now, what do you think might happen?"
Yamato found himself taking a seat as he listened. Hokage-sama was right; although he only briefly heard about the Rin'negan in the briefings of what he was to expect when taking on Team Seven, he didn't give much thought of how just important the Kyoukagan was.
"Honestly," answered the ANBU, "I really don't know."
For the first time Yamato could recall, Sarutobi began to look his age in front of him as he leaned forward in his desk, setting his aged face on his folded hands. He seemed to be looking into the distant future, trying to decode the riddle Fate dished out.
"My time is coming," Sarutobi softly said, "and I constantly worry about what's going to happen once I pass away and let the next generation take the reams. My apprentice is becoming active once more and I know that the next time I see him, it will be a meeting that will end in death."
He didn't know what to say to that. Even though he didn't want to admit it, Yamato could tell that things were about to get harried in the next couple months. The world was quiet, the calm before the storm that swept over the lands.
"I know," he silently admitted to himself as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.
Two days later, Kakashi found himself running out of time and he had yet to find anything on the Kyoukagan. He checked everywhere, not finding a single scrap of information on it. The vaults, the file rooms, everywhere… there was absolutely nothing. All of the precious information that this village once contained was destroyed.
He now found himself reclining in the daimyo's seat with his hand against his chin, thinking of any places info could be found. The jounin even made trips to the library, but like the daimyo's tower, it was bare of books.
With a sigh, he leaned forward and began to randomly slide open the desk drawers. When he approached the last one, he had almost closed it, but felt his visible eye narrow as he noticed something off with this particular drawer: it was smaller on the inside than what the outside suggested. Getting hunch there was something more here he knocked on the bottom of the drawer, hearing a hollow sound. It was a secret compartment and there was something inside.
Kakashi hastily pulled it out and quickly took out the bottom of the drawer, revealing a single scroll. He unrolled it and felt his eye widen.
"This… This is a…" he immediately rolled it back up and stuffed it into his coat pocket.
With speed in his steps he headed back to Konoha, not sparing to eat a ration of his. The Sandaime had to see this because he couldn't make heads or tails of it, but if it was what he thought it was, a lot of things were going to happen.
Early in the morning the next day, the Sandaime and Kakashi could be found in the Hokage's office. The copy-cat looked exhausted, having ran back home through the night.
"You're back earlier than I was expecting," noted Sarutobi, rubbing his eyes as he tried to fully wake up.
It was around four o'clock, an ungodly hour to be up- Gai was the only person who went to bed at midnight and then woke up at two, but many considered him to be clinically insane in the first place
"I'm sorry to wake you up, but I could only find one piece of information on the Kyoukagan, but even then, I can't make sense of it, but I might have an idea of what the text is," explained the Hatake as he pulled out the scroll for Sandaime to look over.
Sarutobi took it and read it, feeling his eyes widen with every word he scanned.
In the blackest part of night, nigh of dawn, the mirror flower stands, a testament to the world's insanity. The winds come and the rains cover it, but the flower lives. The stars watch it, begging for it to join them. It dreams of the day it becomes like them
A serpent comes to it, caressing it, begging for its power to be its own and promising to give it what dreams of the most, but the thorns keep it at bay.
Angry, the snake coils and grasps it, hoping to consume it, but dies as the hawk takes its body and devours it. The hawk watches the flower, jealous of its beauty and power, and the poison that runs through its veins, killing all who try to taste it. It understands the mirror flower as it stands by itself, wanting someone to see it.
In the distance, dawn paints the sky, bringing with it a red dawn; a bloody dawn. Red clouds listen to it, obeying its calling and devouring the land, bringing suffering and death. Even the hawk remains weary, but the mirror flower stands, banishing the clouds as they touch. Eventually dawn meets it, clashing until the end.
The Mirror Flower stands… And the Red Dawn consumes.Sarutobi closed his eyes as he thought about it; things really were going to become crazy in the next couple months.
"Is that a…" began Kakashi.
"Yes," interrupted Sarutobi, "it is a prophecy. From the looks of it, something big is going to happen."
"Do you know what it means?" asked Kakashi with worry.
"That I do. The flower should be obvious; the only other thing that I could tell you is that the snake is Orochimaru. Everything else, I couldn't tell you."
Kakashi narrowed his eye in fury at the thought of the snake targeting his student. "What do we do?"
"We wait. Hopefully, Jiraiya will get here in the next couple days. He has some experience with prophecies. You have the rest of the day off; just try your best to keep you mind off these things, we'll worry about it later."
The copy-cat nodded, but even then, his mind strayed back to the prophecy.
In a bathhouse in the middle of nowhere, a white-haired man with a giant scroll strapped to his back sped away from the place with a very noticeable lecherous grin plastered to his face. He moved so fast he left a trail of dust in his wake.
The hunter-nin team stood at the place the pervert had formerly occupied, completely dumbfounded that this powerful shinobi they were sent to hunt was that perverted.
All of the male ninjas took a step away from the lone female of the group, practically tasting the killer intent in the air. They all imagined if any unlucky man was in arm's reach of her, they would be castrated on the spot, something none of them wanted to experience.
Kill Joy no Jutsu (A.K.A. Author's Note): I'm not dead if that's what you all are thinking. I've just been busy with The Jinchuuriki Nine, but now I will return to this story for a while. Also, I had to scrap this chapter three, count them: THREE, times before I finally got it right. This was the last chapter before the first one that involves the Chunin exam arc.
Also, for you guys that like fast updates, please, let it be known that if you guys want crappy chapters and ones that have a shorter word count, then by all means rush me. Give me time when I work or otherwise what I said in the last sentence will happen and I really don't want to do that; my standards as a writer make it to where I'm a perfectionist, but on brighter note, at least the chapter was really long.
The Anko and Naruto scene was kind of nice. It brought the two closer, which will be necessary to get Iruka and her into a relationship. On top of that, she will play a decent role in this story.
Like I said before, the Chunin exam finally begins in the next chapter. By then, Naruto should have a decent grasp of a couple of his Limits. Also, should I have Naruto copy a couple more original Limits since he is going to the Chunin exam other than the Byukagan? I mean there are a lot of people from different countries going to be there and what better place than a Chunin exam to get a little crazy? If you got any ideas, please PM me.
And one of my favorite characters, Jiraiya, makes an appearance. I love just how many comedy situations you can put that man through.
Not much else for me to go over other than Original Limits and Jutsu. I know that the Limit descriptions are really, REALLY long, but they're highly detailed, especially for you guys out there that keep asking about them.
Scroll of Forbidden Techniques:
Wraith Fist Style- Taijutsu- Mid B Rank- A highly unique form of taijutsu that is actually a hybrid of many other forms. It was originally developed to be adaptive, able to take on different styles of fighting, but maintaining its original structure. The Wraith Fist Style was originally developed by Haku as means to better use his jutsu and weaponry.
Crystal Ice Swords Technique- Ninjutsu- Bloodline Limit- An ice technique created by Haku before he passed away. It creates ice swords that are attached at the wrists and extends past the hand. Each sword is at minimal three feet long and is stronger than steel because of the chakra fed into the weapons. Can be used for multiple purposes and are a reason behind the creation of the Wraith Fist Style. Skilled users can launch the swords from the wrists like missiles, making this also a useful long-range attack.
Metal Release: Dragonfly Weaver- Ninjutsu- Bloodline Limit- The first metal technique created by Sakura from suggestions that were given to her from Yamato. After the person finishes the hand seals, the person sticks their hand into the ground and pulls out a weapon of their choice, combining the chakra as the weapon is pulled out of the earth. The more metal the weapon uses, the more chakra it requires. Skilled users can create multiple weapons at once.
Original Bloodline Limits:
Kinzokuton (Metal Release) – Element – An elemental-class Bloodline Limit that allows the person to use the Bi-Element metal. It is a first generation Limit with Haruno Sakura being the only recorded user of it at the moment.
It is an earth dominant elemental Limit, thereby allowing basic manipulation of dirt, stone, and anything on the order of. Users commonly have large chakra reserves due to the requirements many of the attacks have- Sakura is the only exception to this.
Hyakurai (One Thousand Thunderclaps)- Anatomy and Function- People with Hyakurai have substantially powerful bioelectricity and give off so much that they could electrocute anybody stupid enough to touch them and be able to withstand a full lightning strike. These people also have a natural talent for lightning based jutsu, but there greatest ability is to use real lightning which has several differences with chakra based electricity in that it's highly more powerful and harder to control. In advanced and older users, their is so much electricity running through their body that they are capable of condensing it into blue lightning, electricty with a positive charge and considered ten times more powerful than normal.
Minor abilities include being able to sense people through their bioelectricity, which is unique between person to person, and to be able to absorb lightning. Other abilities include and increase to the brain's processing power, which can be so great that the body may lag with inadequate training.
Major weaknesses include water. If they come into contact with it, they could very well electrocute themselves, knocking them out. The other weakness (more or less one if you live in a city) is that they constantly give off the electricity, threatening to harm people they touch or to cause a failure of a power grid if they come close enough to an outlet. It is highly embarrassing for it to be traced back to its originator.
To control this Limit, Hyakurai users constantly have to suppress their bioelectricity, allowing them to act like normal people. Control is difficult to obtain, but often is second nature, especially if one is trained in it very early. The limit itself doesn't establish as least until the seventh year of age. The body constantly suppresses it until it can handle it, and to keep the mother from constantly being shocked when inside the womb if she isn't from the clan. Once the body becomes ready for it, it slowly develops, allowing more than enough time to get control of it.
Though much family history has been lost because of the blood purges that swept through the Land of Water, it is confirmed that the original members of the clan are from Kiri. It is unknown if Iruka is the last of the clan. Rumor has that the clan was originally massacred by the Yondaime Mizukage himself because of the massive amount of power the Umino clan was reported to have.