A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUMMONS

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or earn any profit by this.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Librastar for beta reading this. Also, thanks to all the fanfic authors who provided inspiration for aspects of this story.

CH.7

"An interesting mission," the Hokage commented looking up from Kakashi's report. He had called them in to ask questions and learn if there was anything not in the official report. Kakashi hated writing reports and, while a thorough professional, details were sometimes lacking.

"That's putting it mildly," Kakashi muttered.

"Your squad performed well overall?"

"A few minor problems, but yes, they did well overall. Naruto's improvisations came as a surprise, but they worked." He glanced at his blond student. "I've already spoken to him about sharing his plans."

"Good," the Hokage nodded. "I did find your mention of the summoning scroll interesting. "I've never heard of a tiger summons before." He looked at Naruto. "May I see it?"

Naruto hesitated. "Um, the tigers told me they're kind of particular about that. They said I should guard the scroll closely and keep it as much of a secret as I can."

The Hokage regarded him with some surprise, not expecting the boy to refuse. "Understandable. Most clans are secretive about such things."

"They've… um…had some bad experiences with summoners they didn't approve of."

"Indeed? You said the merchant got it from a missing-nin?"

"More or less. I was told the scroll was once signed by a homicidal maniac. They're kind of leery."

Everyone was staring at him now. "Understandable, indeed," the old man nodded. "Very well, no further mention of it will be made. Perhaps in time they will come to see Konoha shinobi as worthy allies. That will be up to you, Naruto. A big responsibility."

"Trusted to a clanless dobe," Sasuke muttered, earning him a reproachful look from the old man. Naruto, however, ignored the comment.

"I'll do my best," Naruto assured him. He was just happy to have the matter behind them. If the old man had pressed, he wasn't sure what he would have done. He stayed quiet until they were dismissed.

Kakashi gave them the rest of the day off and left to do whatever he did in his free time, and Naruto headed for one of the remote training grounds to work on the techniques he'd learned. The tricks his counterpart had shown him had so much potential. His Transformation and Shadow Clone technique could be so much more. The Exploding Clone was a neat trick, and transforming into animals was lots of fun. He had never considered using the Transformation that way. He hadn't even been aware that his version of the technique was different. His Transformations were solid, not illusion like the ones the academy taught.

He created five shadow clones and set them to work. It had taken time to learn to move gracefully as a tiger and was very glad he hadn't had to fight as one. That wouldn't always be the case, though. He set five tigers to practicing basic things like running and jumping. He created four more and set them to sparring as tigers.

It was a good start, but he needed to vastly expand his arsenal. His counterpart had told him that it was possible to turn into birds, but that he was still working on landings. He had advised Naruto to first study the anatomy of the creature he wanted to become. That would make the learning process easier. Naruto created two more clones, and the three of them went hunting in the nearby forest.

OOOOOOOOOO

The village of Konoha began seeing Naruto in multiple locations, something that surprised the shinobi while confusing and alarming the civilians. He would be at two different training grounds while running multiple errands. The shopkeepers noticed that he also stopped coming into their shops for overpriced goods. They did not notice immediately, but over the weeks that followed his return from Wave, the handful of shops that were actually willing to sell him things mentioned that 'the demon brat' hadn't been in recently. It cut into their profits as they always doubled or tripled the price when they saw him coming.

There were a series of untraceable pranks against those same merchants. They ranged from childish tricks like glue on chairs to the well hidden seals that had a variety of unpleasant effects. Even though there was no hard evidence, the merchants were sure Naruto was behind it. This was, inevitably, brought to village council. A demand for hard evidence on the part of the Hokage soon brought an end to the matter.

It made the old man curious, though. Naruto had never used seals in his pranks before, and to his knowledge, Kakashi hadn't taught them more than the basics of recognizing seal types. That, in itself, worried him a bit, but it was a concern for another day.

He brought his viewing ball out of his desk and made the hand seals for the jutsu to activate it. He watched Naruto and one of his clones drawing seals on small squares of paper. A closer look revealed that they were storage seals. These storage seals, though, had some interesting modifications. He channeled more chakra through the jutsu so he could hear as well.

"Storage seals are really underrated," one of them, Saratobi couldn't tell which was real and which was clone, was saying as he applied the last brushstroke. "They can store anything; weapons, food, water, poison gas, you name it. They can be set to release under a variety of conditions, too."

"Like the seal I painted on the underside of the grocer's doormat? The one with all the sewer gas stored in it?"

"Right. Anytime someone steps on that mat, it releases a small cloud. That'll teach him to be so choosy about his customers." The Hokage couldn't help but chuckle. It was actually a clever idea. "All it takes is a basic understanding of sealing and a little imagination. There's a way to combine an explosive tag with a storage seal, I'm sure of it. Just need to work out the details and there'll be a new type of trap no one will see coming. If done right, the explosion will send whatever the storage seal releases flying. Senbon, kunai, big freakin' rocks, you name it."

"Sounds great!"

"Thing to remember about seals is that experimenting can be dangerous. If trying something new, best to let a shadow clone do the work."

"That so-" Naruto broke off and frowned. "Uh-oh. Someone just tripped the alarm at home. Something's up."