Welcome back to Revived at Birth! Now, I need to answer some questions from the reviews:
To those talking about the Demon Brothers using the Kage Bunshin: I'm sorry about the hasty use of the Shadow Clone on there. To be honest, I put it there because it was the first solid Clone technique that I thought about. I didn't think of using the Mizu Bunshin at first. I'll see if I go back and change that, but to be honest, I haven't read anything about it being a Konoha exclusive technique, although the fact that it's in the Scroll may be why. I don't know. Can somebody give me a link or something?
Other than that, nothing much to talk about except pardon for the inactivity. I managed to get three chapters written during this time, all of which I'll upload between today and tomorrow.
Nami no Kuni, Undisclosed Location, a few hours before Naruto's explanation...
In a small tent of sorts, a short man walked in, flanked by his two bodyguards. The short, spiky haired, glasses-wearing man named Gatō walked up to the bed on which Zabuza Momochi was lying down.
"Well, well, what's this, Zabuza? I hire you to kill a simple bridge builder and you end up being beaten by a bunch of kids and their babysitter? Perhaps my money isn't being well spent on you. Maybe I should just kill you now and be done with."
However, as Gatō moved up to strangle Zabuza to death, another person's hand quickly appeared and grabbed his wrist, twisting hard.
"You will not harm Zabuza-sama," A feminine voice said, and Gatō looked up only to see Zabuza's mask-wearing partner/apprentice. He didn't need to see his or her face to know that his or her eyes were coldly trained upon his own. With a quick motion, the apprentice twisted Gatō's wrist, making him yell in pain. Gatō's bodyguards moved to intercept the apprentice, but he or she merely flicked a few senbon needles at them, rendering their arms useless.
"I missed your more important organs on purpose, so don't test me," the apprentice growled at the bodyguards, before turning back to Gatō and releasing his wrist.
With a growl, Gato turned around and walked out, saying, "Make sure you kill that bastard and his team of ninjas, or you can consider your payment null and void." Gato's bodyguards followed meekly.
Zabuza looked up at his apprentice and said, "You know, Haku, you didn't need to do that. I'm not as beaten as I appear," showing him or her that he had a kunai in his hand under the bed sheets.
Haku took of his or her mask, showing a feminine kind of face, and said, "Yes, I know, but as your tool, I must protect you, Zabuza-sama."
Zabuza grunted in approval and said, "Either way, good job on Gato. Now, I need you to do your other job that I assigned you. You remember where his house is, right?"
"Yes, Zabuza-sama," Haku said, bowing slightly, "I shall bring back as much intel as I can on the team from Konoha and on the bridge builder."
"Good. Go, now." Zabuza made a gesture, meaning 'get going'. Without further ado, Haku put her mask back on and walked out of the house, choosing to run there regularly so as not to alert any sensory ninja that might be with the team from Konoha.
The next day…
Haku came back with her head reeling from the information she got. The main thought that surfaced was, 'Zabuza-sama will definitely want to hear about this.'
Walking into the cone-shaped house, Haku could see Zabuza quietly snoring on the cot. Smiling at her master's antics, she went around, making the necessary medicines for her master's recovery. A moment later, she heard a snort from Zabuza, presumably from him waking up.
"Oh, Haku, you're back. What took you so long?" Zabuza asked, looking at his apprentice suspiciously.
"My apologies, Zabuza-sama," said Haku, bowing low, "But as I was about to leave, the blond-haired Genin named Naruto started talking about himself, so I stayed to listen. And I'm pleased to say that I have much to say."
"Well, at least it's for a good reason. You got anything to eat? I'm starving." Zabuza said, just as his stomach growled.
Haku giggled slightly and brought Zabuza a broth she'd made for him, having eaten already last night.
As he sipped the broth, Zabuza asked, "Well, what have you uncovered about that Genin?"
Haku began to tell Zabuza all she heard, beginning from the story Naruto told of Hashirama Senju against Madara Uchiha, and the outcome. She told him of Kurama's fate, and where Kurama was now. She continued with the shocking observation of Naruto's parentage and the abilities he'd gained from the virus that had entered his body since his young days.
Needless to say, Zabuza was shocked beyond comprehension. That shorty was the son of the famous Kiiroi Senkō, as well as the jinchūriki of the Kyuubi no Kurama?! But then…
"Pah!" exclaimed Zabuza, surprising Haku, "Doesn't matter if that brat is what he says he is. By the way he acted during my fight with Kakashi, I'd say he didn't get that much training in his childhood, which means he's not at the level he should be. If I remember correctly, Konoha folk are pretty biased, so I assume they must have made the kid's life hell."
Haku analyzed what her master had said and had to agree.
"But what shall we do about the bridge builder?" Haku asked.
"Well, you said that it may take a week for me to fully heal. That day, we shall attack them at the bridge, then go for that snake Gato," growled Zabuza.
Haku nodded and went to do a daily inventory of their supplies, noting how she would need to look for more herbs for her medicine soon enough.
Back with our favorite heroes, a few days after Naruto's story…
During the last few days, Team 7 had been doing a lot of training to improve their skills after Kakashi confided on them and Tazuna that he had a suspicion that Zabuza was alive, since the hunter-nin that took Zabuza's body would only need the nukenin's head and Kubikiribōchō to prove that Zabuza was dead. If he was indeed alive, Kakashi estimated that they had about a week, maybe less, to prepare. With that in mind, he began to train both Sasuke and Sakura in tree walking and, as an afterthought, decided to check their elemental affinities. Sasuke's was, unsurprisingly, Fire, with a bit of Lightning mixed in. Sakura's was mainly Earth, with a minor affinity in Water. With that in mind, he gave Sakura a scroll on some Doton (Earth) jutsu to practice for now and an exercise with which she could learn to control Water better. Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't need much, since he already had some Katon (Fire) jutsu on him. Therefore, Kakashi primarily focused on his chakra control of his main two Katon jutsu, the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique), and the Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Technique). He also began teaching him the basics of his own original jutsu, the Raikiri (Lightning Cutter/Blade), which began as a Chidori (One Thousand Birds). However, he refrained from outright teaching the boy the jutsu yet, as he believed that he wasn't ready for such a technique. He also tried to unlock the last Uchiha's Sharingan, but without success.
As for Naruto, he had a much different approach. From the first day of training, after demonstrating to the two other Genin on how to tree walk, Kakashi took Naruto to a nearby clearing and had him meditate. After he was in-tune with his entire body, Kakashi had Naruto work on summoning Kurama's youki. At first, Naruto was unable to, but after a day of meditation and repeated attempts, a red, bubbling chakra cloak had covered him on his apparent 20th try. After that, Naruto continuously attempted to draw on the Kitsune's youki, managing to control up to one tail of power after four days of training, a feat that was not easy in the least, despite Naruto's power and will.
On the moments he wasn't meditating, Kakashi also trained Naruto on his taijutsu. At first, he needed a demonstration of Naruto's strength, finally realizing just how strong the virus had made him after he managed to punch through five trees with a fully powered punch. Kakashi had been flabbergasted at the amount of power the twelve year old contained, but decided to add more finesse to his fighting style. Therefore, he began teaching Naruto his own style of fighting. While at first, it had been hard to get the young man to keep still long enough to wait for Sasuke, who was acting as an enemy, to attack first, he managed to get the taijutsu style, and even derived his own from it, which consisted of him acting more animalistic in his attacks. He therefore named it Kitsune Style, a name that was reinforced when he noted that when Naruto was using the Kyuubi's youki, his more animalistic side increased the effectiveness of his attacks. He also had a shrewd suspicion that the Kyuubi had a hand in teaching Naruto as well.
Speaking of the nine tailed demon fox, his friendship with Naruto grew by leaps and bounds in just those few days. Kurama admitted to Naruto that he wasn't one to socialize much, even with the other bijū, but even he felt lonely. He had never really attempted to make friends with either of his previous jinchūriki, mainly because he resented the way he was being kept down. That, and they also never really made any attempt to make friends with him either. He grew to care for Naruto like a little brother of sorts, and even told him some of his own more refined styles of fighting. Naruto had, at first, thought that Kurama just fought like a fox: dodging, weaving, using his claws, punching sometimes, and using his tails. However, Kurama said he was more refined than that. When fighting other bijū especially, he did weave around the enemy like a regular fox, but also used timing and precision to take down his foes. This, along with the renowned attack of the bijū, the Bijūdama (Tailed Beast Ball), was a major reason as to why he was feared.
Kurama also noted that since he and Naruto were becoming friendlier with each other, the demon fox's youki seemed to be less damaging to the young man, and it seemed to be transferring to him at a faster rate. Hell, if their friendship kept growing, he could be able to access all of Kurama's chakra by around half of the year predetermined by Kurama.
While this was all going on, Naruto continued to try out new inventions of his shape shifting. While he was not very good at coming up with plans in battle, his imagination was practically off the charts. By the second day of training, he had managed to get a pair of large black wings after consuming a raven that was unlucky enough to get in the way of Naruto's punch. Oh, that day was one of the most fun days the boy had had in a while…
Flashback…
Naruto was punching away at a few targets that Kakashi had set up around the clearing usually used for his training. His Jounin-sensei had gone to check on Sasuke and Sakura, the former of which was practicing using either less chakra or fewer seals for the Gōkakyū no Jutsu. While at first, Sasuke had needed to use seven hand seals to activate the jutsu, he had managed to knock off two, allowing him to activate it more quickly. Sakura, on the other hand, was attempting to walk on water, a feat she was achieving easily because of her near perfect chakra control.
Naruto was weaving back and forth between trees, punching at some, and kicking at others. After a few seconds of doing this repeatedly, his senses caught the sound of something that seemed to be flying at him at a high speed. Turning around quickly, he swung his left fist out and clotheslined the incoming objects, which turned out to be a raven that had apparently seen something it classified as food on one of the trees Naruto was training on.
The poor creature's neck was broken on contact, and it flew back, dying even before it hit the tree it was flying towards. Naruto quickly ran up to it to see if there was any way to save it, but alas, it was not to be. As he knelt next to the corpse of the bird, staring at it, his mind was going a mile a minute. If anyone was able to see objects made from thoughts, they would have seen the light bulb that appeared over Naruto's head from a mile away.
'Hey, Kurama!' Naruto yelled in his head.
He heard some grumbling, then the voice of his tenant, 'What is it, kit? There better be a good reason for waking me up.'
'There is, in a way. Can you see what I'm seeing right now?' he asked
Kurama took about a second to answer. 'Yeah, a dead raven. You woke me up for that?'
Naruto could practically feel it's displeasure at being woken up for a raven, so he continued quickly, 'Yeah, a raven. Remember how I can take on the forms and characteristics of anyone I transform?'
'Yeah. What are you…?' Kurama began, but suddenly began to understand what Naruto meant.
Without further ado, Naruto grabbed the raven's body in his right hand, making a quick check around him to make sure that no one was watching him. Then, focusing on the raven, he commanded his body to absorb it. Almost immediately, black tendrils whipped out from his hand and absorbed the raven, breaking it into biomass (a word he got from Kurama after he heard it call the tendrils by that name) and absorbing it quickly. The process was done in a matter of seconds.
Naruto stood up, feeling no different than before. He got a number of memories that mainly focused on sound, smell, and sight rather than actual vocabulary, which was obvious. Thankfully, it hadn't caused him a headache like Gōzu had. He also didn't feel anything different with his body, although he could sense that the DNA and mind of the raven had been successfully integrated into his own.
Reflexively, he thought about how the wings of the raven looked like. He created an almost perfect image of it, then reeled in shock as the biomass of his body began going haywire, moving all around the boy's body. A minute later, the tendrils stopped, and Naruto could feel some kind of small extra weight on his back. Quickly running towards a river that he remembered was nearby, he looked at his reflection and gasped when he saw the large black wings sprouting from his back. With a thought, he dismissed the wings, and watched as they became biomass and entered his body again. He practiced activating and deactivating them for a few minutes, then decided to put them to the test.
Standing back at his regular training clearing, he activated the wings and unfolded them, quickly becoming used to the feel and texture of a few extra muscles. He flapped them once, and felt the air around him fly at the strong flap. He flapped again, harder this time, and his feet left the ground for a few seconds before touching back down. After thinking this over, he gathered strength in his legs, the strength augmenting after he focused biomass there as well, and jumped, quickly clearing the treetops and reaching at least 10 stories in height. Once at the apex, he flapped his wings continuously. This allowed him to hover where he was, and he was able to see almost everything around him, although the light mist around Nami no Kuni was annoying, to say the least. He looked down when he noticed an orange glow appear and then disappear, and focused on watching his teammates train. After a minute, he got bored and decided to fly around Nami, quickly checking out almost everything and making a mental map of the place.
Flashback Kai…
After that day, Naruto had taken to using the wings continuously until they became an extension of him. It was pretty easy to retreat from battle when you could sprout wings at will. The thing he hadn't done yet was tell his teammates or sensei. If another battle with Zabuza was coming up, he figured, he'd rather leave it as a surprise.
Around the third day, he had also been able to grow claws. He grew these after studying Kurama's claws and attempting to recreate them with biomass. While at first he had been rather unsuccessful, he'd managed to achieve it after quite a few tries. When he activated the ability, his sleeves fused with his arm and became completely black, his hands increased in size, and he grew three large, finger-like claws, along with an extra that acted like a thumb. After testing their power on a tree, he noticed they were sturdy enough to cut halfway through a tree trunk, and sharp enough to slice a deer without any resistance. These attributes only increased when he used Kurama's youki along with them. When he focused the youki on the blades, the blades became a blood-like, iridescent red color, which he had to admit looked awesome as hell. It also doubled the claws' sturdiness and sharpness, to the point where he could slice through an entire tree without problem. The best part, however, is that with the claws, Naruto was better able to use Kurama's Kitsune Style of fighting.
And with that, the week came and went, and with it, the three Genin became stronger than they had ever been before. They also knew that this was only the beginning of their training…
Time skip, the day of Zabuza's attack on the bridge…
Naruto was sleeping fitfully when a buzzing began in his ears. He scratched it annoyingly but went straight back to sleep. The buzzing became louder and louder until Naruto was half awake, upon which Naruto could hear a voice yelling out in his head.
'Wake the hell up, Kit!'
"Yikes!" yelled Naruto, now fully awake and bouncing up to his feet, kunai at the ready. He looked around for the voice, but then figured that it had come from inside his head. 'Kurama, what the hell?! Why are you waking me up?!'
'Well, I figured that you'd want to know that your friends have left without you.' Said Kurama grudgingly.
Looking around, Naruto noticed that Kurama was right. His teammates and sensei were nowhere to be seen. Rushing to the bathroom quickly, he brushed his teeth and shifted into his clothes. Admiring himself for a second, he suddenly heard a voice from downstairs.
"Get the hell away from my son!"
'That was Tsunami's voice!' thought Naruto, eyes widening. He quickly ran downstairs and hid behind a wall, then stole a glance at the living room.
The door had been completely blasted off its hinges (how he slept through that, he didn't even know) and was lying against the wall across from the doorway. In the room, Tsunami was bound and gagged, although the gag had fallen from her mouth. In front of her, with their backs to him,were two samurai-looking guys, if the katana they had were anything to judge by. One of them was holding Inari, Tsunami's son, by the scruff of the neck, as if wondering what to do with him.
"You stay away from my kaa-san!" yelled Inari, swinging at the guy holding him with a kitchen knife.
The samurai, however, simply grabbed the young boy's wrist, stopping his attack halfway though. Inari whimpered, thinking he was seriously going to die. Imagine his shock, however, when three claws sprouted from the torsos of both samurai, making them give a choked cry of pain.
Naruto quickly retracted his claws from the two, then swiped at their necks, killing them instantly. He stepped back to avoid the spurt of blood, and watched as the two collapsed, dropping Inari on top of his mother. Naruto quickly ran up to Tsunami, apologizing for the mess and cutting the ropes with one of his claws, whereupon he dismissed the claws and watched as his arms returned to normal.
"Tsunami-san, where are my teammates and Tazuna?" Naruto quickly asked.
"They should be at the bridge right now. They mentioned that they'd let you sleep a little longer since you were training so hard, especially after yesterday." She said, not minding the bloody corpses of the two samurai.
Naruto grunted, slightly annoyed at this, but also glad that they cared for him so much. He remembered how he had stormed out of the house the day before when Inari had yelled at him and his team, calling them fools for taking on Gato and saying that they didn't know what it was like to suffer. Naruto had lost his temper at that last one and ran at the boy, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and pinning him against a wall, where he proceeded to tell him in detail how mistreated he was by those in Konoha who only saw him as the Kyuubi. He detailed the chases, the comments, the beating he'd suffered, and then stormed out of the house, training (a.k.a. releasing his temper on the forest) until way past dark, whereupon he snuck inside and, after talking with Kakashi, went to sleep.
He was about to run out of the house and after his friends when Inari, who seemed to sense his intentions, said, "You're not planning on just leaving us here unprotected, are you, nii-san?"
"I have to, Inari. I have to go help my friends," said Naruto, looking at the boy, who began to sniff.
"But then… who will protect *sniff* us?"
Naruto thought for a moment, then, glancing at Tsunami, he flicked a kunai in the air towards Inari, who gingerly caught it by the handle.
"You will, Inari," Naruto said softly.
Inari looked up at Naruto's smiling face and felt his confidence grow.
"Hai, nii-san! I'll protect kaa-san with all I got!" he said, mock-saluting.
Tsunami smiled at Naruto, thanking him nonverbally for changing Inari into the brave boy he was now.
Without another word, Naruto ran out of the house after quickly moving the door back to its frame so it could at least lean against the doorway. Once outside, he activated and unfurled his wings. Jumping, he took to the skies, flapping mighty hard, hoping to reach the bridge in time.
Meanwhile, at the bridge…
Two tremendous battles were going on.
One between the renowned Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi, and the man who copied one thousand jutsu, Kakashi Hatake.
The other between the user of the Hyōton (Ice) kekkei genkai and apprentice of Zabuza, Haku; and the last of the Uchiha, Sasuke.
The two battles clashed all over the bridge, neither side of either battle gaining any leverage.
Until Haku pulled up her ultimate technique, the Hyōton: Makyō Hyōshō, which turnedthe tide of her battle against Sasuke almost immediately.
Can Naruto arrive in time? Or will he be too late to save his closest friend and rival?
Don't worry, you won't wait long for the answers to the questions.
