Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Thank you to RoyalTwinFangs, .kitten, zolydck, thor94, 06, amaromarn, scarease, Kunoichi of the Moonlit night, and Galler for reviewing.
Zolydck: It isn't so much naivety as blame. And you got that pretty much spot on.
I'm baaaack. Hope you enjoy it.
A year passed, and the young red-head was now standing on a roof across from a store that had refused him entrance. To him, it felt like years since he'd first taken those books from the library. And he hadn't regretted it. He'd instantly fallen in love with the art. Granted, finding supplies was an annoyance he'd rather not have to deal with, but he made do. He'd blown up the first few storage seals he'd made, leaving him with less hair and more wisdom, but he learnt from his mistakes.
He'd even managed to make his own scroll, in which Kakashi's now resided. He'd used the same basic structure, just an extra matrix here, a few function generators there, and some variable switch lines to neaten things up. He was still improving on it, but he was proud none the less. It would keep his things clean, his food fresh, and his materials dry. Next up was explosive seals, and possibly barrier seals, but at the moment, he had more pressing concerns.
As self-sufficient as he'd become, there were still things he couldn't yet take from the forest. Food and shelter certainly, but clothing had fast become an issue. And hygiene. His Hair had grown to his shoulder blades, and the dirt on his skin had reached places it shouldn't, when he finally decided to go 'acquire' hygiene products from stores in the village. He still had no money, so this left him with two options. One: steal the money, transform, and then buy what he needed, or Two: steal the items from the shop.
Most shops were too busy, or too secure for him to even consider taking from, but he'd gotten fairly good at pickpocketing. As it was, he had several hundred Ryo stored safely away, and anytime he needed more, he'd take a walk through the market district. Amazing how many people kept such large denominations of money in their pockets.
He was distracted from his surveillance by a now familiar Weasel mask staring at him across the roof. Letting the store go (for now) he waved the Uchiha over.
"Hey Itachi-san, how are things" he said with a large smile. They weren't quite friends, but Itachi was always willing to answer his questions and give him advice. In return, the Uchiha talked to him about…anything really. Missions-with the sensitive details edited out for security-he'd taken part in, ANBU assignments, his home life, and his little brother. With how serious it all seemed, and how much Itachi opened up, Naruto sometimes wondered if, instead of a ninja, he could be a psychologist. Not in this village obviously, nor to anyone who knew what he was.
"Hello, Naruto" came the stoic response. Even to him the ANBU captain smiled very little, but the small pull at the edges of his mouth told Naruto that he was happy to see him. He had no doubt that Itachi knew what he was about to do, he had a scroll with a 'distraction' that Anko would approve of in his hand. And Kami knows how many times Itachi had seen him at work. But so long as Itachi let him be, he wouldn't ask why.
Naruto just grinned back at him. "How's your new baby brother?" he asked. He knew quite a bit about the new 'greatest' Uchiha, both from Itachi and village gossip. Although he suspected the villagers were exaggerating somewhat. After all, what 4-year-old could breathe fire, and kill his 'enemies' by looking at them? Itachi however looked…conflicted. He sighed, before answering.
"Sasuke is…good, I suppose. He hasn't been too much trouble lately. He still tries to spend every waking moment either with me, or trying to get training from either myself, or father" he said with a small smile. It quickly faded. "He's still hoping for father to acknowledge him…there's a lot of pressure on both of us, as the clan head's children". Naruto nodded grimly. However skilled, however powerful Itachi might be, his clan always expected more. More loyalty, more power, whatever. "Comes from possessing the Sharingan I guess" Naruto thought to himself.
"So, Naruto" the red-head looked up at this, drawn out of his thoughts. Itachi wasn't one to dwell on stuff like this. "How is your body-flicker coming on?" Naruto grimaced at this. Try as he might, he still couldn't get the technique down perfectly. His control was as good as could be expected, with a constant injection of chakra into his system, and he'd even managed to decrease the number of hand signs by half. It had taken him months to even get that far, and yet it continued to frustrate him. If only he could replicate the effects without any hand signs.
"No progress since last month. I've done all the control exercises I know, even combined them, but it isn't helping" he told Itachi. The ANBU captain thought about this. Hand signs would take practice to eliminate, so the problem was control. Perhaps some of the ANBU exercises would benefit him.
"Why don't you try Kunai balancing and chakra threads Naruto?" Naruto tilted his head at this. He imagined that the kunai balancing was similar to leaf balancing, with the added incentive of a sharp, pointy object cutting you if you failed. The metal would definitely make things more challenging. But chakra strings?
Seeing Naruto's curious expression, Itachi began to explain. "Chakra strings are exactly that, focused, condensed chakra that can be used to grab objects. It is mainly used by puppeteers in the Hidden Sand, but some ANBU use it as a control exercise" he stated matter-of-factly. He thoroughly enjoyed the way the boy's eyes lit up. He could only imagine what uses Naruto was currently dreaming up for the manipulation exercise.
For a moment, Naruto's brain had shut down. Strings…chakra…move…control. At this point it finally rebooted. IF he could get this down, it would make everything so much easier! He could manipulate traps, possibly create seals by moving the brushes around, even pickpocket people from a distance. He had to focus to stop the goofy, drooling grin on his face. This was AWESOME!
"Thanks Itachi, I uh…I gotta go practice!" he said happily, jumping away to the forests, the store forgotten. Itachi almost laughed. Almost. He had a reputation to uphold.
Later that day, Naruto sat reading a book on the Hidden Sand's actions during the third shinobi war. Their use of puppets was ingenious, not to mention the seals that must have gone into their construction. Where else would they store the thousands of poisoned senbon or kunai that tore through enemy ranks. Setting it down for the moment, he wondered about the chakra strings. He hadn't asked Itachi for an explanation, but as he saw it, it was merely forming the chakra outside his body, before shaping it in such a way that it would be both flexible, and strong enough to move another object around.
So far, he knew the transformation, body-flicker, chakra control exercises of varying difficulties and combinations, and a small amount of fuuinjutsu. But about six months ago, he'd noticed an anomaly with his transformation technique. As things stood, the standard technique was meant to be more of a genjutsu, an illusion, capable only of changing ones appearance. Only, when he was stalking a deer in the forest, disguised as a rabbit, he'd been picked up by a hawk. It had taken him almost a minute to realise what was happening, between the dizziness and surprise. Surely his transformation would have dispelled as soon as he'd been grabbed?
It was only with some experimentation that he discovered that his technique wasn't an illusion, but an actual transformation. Size, shape, structure, physiology, everything changed. His first attempts at flying had been disastrous, but after reading a few books on birds, and a bit of practice, he'd finally succeeded. Those first few moments of realisation, that he was in the air, and not falling…he couldn't imagine anything being much better. Such freedom…
But that still begged the question, why was this happening. He knew from Kakashi that his chakra was denser than normal, but even that shouldn't be enough to cause such a profound effect. But what about the fox? What if the chakra being syphoned of the great beast was affecting him? He'd tried talking to the creature twice since their first meeting, but the fox had been hiding in the back of its cage.
Maybe now it was time to try again.
Opening his eyes, Naruto smiled as he saw the now familiar pools of chakra. His own was far calmer than it had been, but still had small waves crossing it every other moment. It's size had increased too, by almost a fifth. The converted chakra from the kyuubi was now a more steady stream, a purple gold that mixed with his own royal blue. He put his hand under the surface, basking in its warmth. He still found it ironic that he trusted and energy, with no thoughts, feelings, or needs, more than any one person at the moment.
Walking towards the kyuubi's chakra, he found the door to its cage. Rather than dive into that well of rage and hatred every time, he'd 'made' a door in the side of the colossal lake. Stepping through, he felt the familiar anxiety that accompanied the dark hallway. A side effect of the fox's emotional state?
Reaching the cage, he saw the fox waiting for him, eyes narrowed. He took a moment to take in the condition of the cage. The walls had cracked a little, and the wooden doors of the cage were peeling slightly. Closing his eyes, he focused on fixing it up. It still took a surprising amount of strain, but at least the water level had lowered significantly. It was only at ankle level now.
The fox regarded the human in front of it. It didn't particularly care for the boy, but being stuck in the cage with nothing to do was boring. Granted, he had some patience, being thousands of years old, but still. He wondered what the boy wanted this time.
Naruto opened his eyes, and looked up at the beast. After nearly a year of silence, this was…awkward. Add that to the fact that the creature was rather intimidating to begin with…
"Hello, Kyuubi" He said. Yeah. Really awkward.
The glare he received could have melted ice at 20 paces. "What do you want, human?" he growled out.
Naruto frowned. The anger at him was unnecessary, it wasn't like he asked to be put in this situation. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, if you'll allow it" he said cautiously. He had no doubt that if he was anything less than polite, he'd be cold shouldered. Not a complete disaster, but he'd rather not deal with a pissed off tenant.
Kyuubi frowned, mirroring his host. Questions? About what? And more importantly, what could he get in return?
"I will answer some your questions…if you answer some of mine" he stated, watching the brats reaction. He wasn't' surprised to see that the boy agreed. It was a decent exchange anyway.
"Alright, ask yours first" Naruto said. If he cooperated now, the more likely the fox would answer him later.
The fox nodded. "What is the state of the village?" it asked.
Naruto was taken aback at first, but rationalised it as the fox wanting to know how much damage he'd actually done. "It has recovered for the most part. I don't know how many people you killed, but the ninja population at least is back on its feet", he said. "The civilians all still hate me though. They think that I am you" he said sadly, snorting at the thought. They thought he was a massive chakra beast, a demon, and yet they felt safe enough to antagonise him. What a joke.
He looked up as the fox snorted. Was that amusement? "Please, human, you? A bjuu? As if you could become like me? Like us?" it stated. There was no way any human, not even this one, could ever hope to rival a tailed beast. There had only been three to have ever come close, one of whom he respected more than anyone else, even his kin. Not that anyone would ever know, or care.
Naruto nodded distractedly. Why was it that people were so intelligent, and yet, when he was involved, everything went to hell. "Alright, next question" he said to the bjuu.
Kyuubi nodded. What to ask, what to ask…ah. "If you are such a pariah amongst your own kind…how are you surviving?". It was a reasonable question. Given what would happen to him if the boy died.
Naruto answered slowly. "I hunt for food mostly. After I was kicked out of the orphanage, I had to look through garbage to find food. After Kakashi and Anko found me, I started living in the forest. Kakashi got me a book on hunting, but everything else I tend to steal from the village. I'm still surprised I haven't been found out yet" he finished. He looked up at the Kyuubi as he did so. "But why are asking?" He didn't dare say worry, or care, since the creature evidently didn't. Saying as much would no doubt anger the beast.
The slitted red eyes glanced round, indicating the cage, and more specifically, the seal. "This seal is the strongest I've seen in a long time. I can't break out, unless you open it". No use lying about that, he really couldn't escape. But it might help his situation of he was honest here. "That being said…aside from channelling my chakra into you, after converting it, it has one other function. If you die, I die. No reforming, no more life for either of us. We'll both end up in the death god's stomach", he said grimly.
Naruto was somewhat disturbed by this. At least that answered where he'd go when he died. But what would have to happen to him that he'd release the kyuubi. Not that he would, but if…
He shook his head. He still needed information. "Can I ask my questions now?" The fox nodded in response.
Naruto cleared his throat. "Okay… my transformation technique is solid, instead of a simple illusion. As far as I can tell, I'm performing the technique correctly, and while I'm not complaining about the results, I'd like to know whether it's because of your chakra?"
The bjuu raised an eyebrow. A solid transformation. Shape shifting. This was…new. Then again, this was the first seal that actually siphoned tailed beast chakra into the host. It might have something to do with it but…
"Partly, but it seems your chakra is dense enough to produce the effect. Having mine added to yours just makes it easier" it said. He was an Uzumaki after all.
Naruto nodded, satisfied with the answer. It was far more useful than the standard transformation, but such dense chakra had to be a genetic trait. He would have larger reserves thanks to the Kyuubi, but denser? But for now, the nest question.
"Thanks. Now…do you have a name?"
Drip
Drip
The massive chakra beast was stunned. Not once, not once had any human ever thought to ask a bjuu that question, but to here that question from a child…thousands of years, millions of kills, and a child was the first to ask? "Why would you ask that, boy?" he growled out, eyes narrowed.
Naruto, looked up at the visage of the fox. The familiar rage was there, but for a brief moment, he'd felt surprise. "Well," he began. "You are obviously intelligent. If someone else hasn't given you a name by now, I'm sure you've found one for yourself" he explained.
Kyuubi was astonished. Thousands of years, and a human figured it out only now. "Yes, human, I have a name…but," the boy looked confused at this, "it will be some time before you can ever gain my respect enough for me to tell you what it is" he stated warningly. He didn't like humanity, and certainly not the boy. But maybe, just maybe, the human child could aspire to be something like the sage. Something he didn't have to hate.
Naruto nodded. Given what the bjuu must have experienced in their lifetimes, he really couldn't argue with the kyuubi's logic. He was about to ask more questions, but the look on the foxes face made it perfectly clear that he wasn't welcome anymore. He stood up to leave.
"Thanks for answering my questions Kyuubi. By the way," he said as he turned to leave, "my name is Naruto".
The fox watched the retreating form of the human child. This…he could work with this.
Naruto opened his eyes to an afternoon sky. Every time he accessed the seal, less time passed outside the seal. This last attempt had taken about two hours. Getting to his feet, he wondered what he should do for the rest of the day. The earlier attempt at thievery had been more out of compulsion than necessity, and his current jutsu were more or less up to par. He wanted to start working on the chakra strings, but in all fairness, he felt it would be better to work on the next section of fuuinjutsu. Explosive seals would definitely help as distractions, or as traps.
Opening the relevant book, as well as his journal, he began going through the theory. Every time he studied the sealing arts, he made notes, and wrote down designs in his journal. His understanding of the art. For example, which matrix meant what in a storage seal, and storage seals for certain items, objects or substances.
Looking at the section on exploding seals, he could see that it was, in simple terms, and explosive release of energy. Or something placed in storage, that propelled said something outwards. The amount of chakra determined time until detonation, and/or charge, and variations of the seal allowed for seals that just exploded, or spewed out weapons, acid, or any other manner of deadly thing. Oh this was going to be so much fun.
"Hey brat!"
Naruto looked around blearily. He'd woken up about half an hour ago, and had just finished breakfast. Well, half woken up. And now Anko had arrived. Doing his best to shake himself awake, he stood to greet her. He still wasn't quite used to her positively sadistic smile, but he enjoyed her company, when she wasn't out on a mission.
"Hey Anko, what's going on?" he said warmly. He'd been with her in the village a few times, often to get some dango, or just to hang out. And much to his surprise, she was treated similarly to him. Nowhere near as badly, but still. She at least had the advantage of age, and intimidation. If he tried that, he'd either be laughed at, or, if the person in question really hated him, find several pointy things thrown in his general direction. Followed by a small crowd of angry people. Who chased him. Pity they weren't fast enough.
She just grinned at the boy. Despite his young age, not that she was that old mind you, he was nice enough to hang out with. And surprisingly, he didn't mind her more, bloody side. She'd occasion gone ballistic on a civilian or two who'd insulted her or the brat, and he'd barely batted an eyelid. Apparently hunted for food everyday was good for getting rid of squeamishness.
"Come on brat, I want to introduce you to a few people", she said excitedly. She'd finally got permission from Ibiki to bring the kid round to T & I, after much convincing.
Naruto frowned. If Anko was suggesting this, then whoever she was going to introduce him to must either be ok with what he was, or didn't know. At least, he hoped so. Evidently she understood his apprehension, because she immediately reassured him. Nodding at her he followed her out of the forest, and into Konoha proper.
In hindsight, Naruto should have expected to end up here. After all, Anko had certainly told him enough about it. They ugly, grey, bunker-like building squatted at the other side of the village at the bottom of the Hokage Mountain. The buildings were so thick here that he could barely see the forest. As he walked through the door behind Anko, he almost missed her greeting the ANBU at the desk. A Rabbit mask, he noted idly. The inside was much the same as the outside, but when they eventually went underground to the interrogation rooms, he started seeing small differences. A puddle of water (he hoped), scuff marks on the walls and floors, even the occasional blood spatter. Anko eventually opened a door, and motioned him inside.
It took him a moment to adjust to the lack of light in the room. However the view through the two-way mirror really captured his attention.
A shinobi was tied up in a chair, facing away from the door. His binds looked to be incredibly tight. There was a steel table in front of him, bolted to the ground, a folding chair on the other side. The room was…filthy, in a word. Naruto honestly doubted whether it had ever been cleaned. Blood stains, other…stains, dripping pipes, and other questionable assorted debris littered the room. Not that the man being interrogated seemed to care anymore.
From the headband on his forehead, Naruto figured he was from Hidden Cloud. And not a missing-nin either. From his age, he must be a jonin as well. He was obviously exhausted. There wasn't a mark on him, but he was obviously at his wits end. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his knuckles were white, his shirt was drenched in sweat, and his face was gaunt, like he'd just seen his worst nightmare.
And then someone stepped out of the shadows by the door.
The man was fairly tall, with the tanned skin common to fire country residents. Well, Leaf village residents anyway. He wore a standard shinobi outfit, with a bandana covering his hair, and a long, black-as-night trench coat over his shoulders, identical to Anko's in every way, save colour. Naruto almost jumped at his sudden appearance, but months of hunting had taught him not to make any sudden moves in such situations. There was always a bigger predator out there.
Suddenly, the man began to speak. "So, Haro Takemaru, you, a jonin shinobi of Cloud, admit to the attempted kidnapping of the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, on the orders of the Yondaime Raikage?"
Naruto was shocked. A village attempting to steal a bloodline wasn't uncommon, but to go after a Hyuuga? The man was either suicidal or-
As soon as the man replied in the affirmative, Naruto felt warning bells going off in his head. "He's lying", he whispered softly to himself. Though not so softly that Anko didn't hear him. "What are you talking about brat?" she asked, looking at him sideways.
He shook his head. "When that guy-Haro-said that Ibiki-san was correct, he was lying, but" he scrunched up his face in concentration, "only about the last bit, about who ordered him to do it".
Anko stared at him. She knew about his emotion sensing ability, and how accurate it could be. So what truth was the guy hiding. She picked up the microphone to Ibiki's earpiece.
"Ibiki, it's me. We need to talk".
Naruto looked at her gratefully, glad that she trusted him. Despite his age, he knew how serious this was. If any part of this went sideways, it would have bad consequences for the leaf. That meant that Kakashi, Anko, and Itachi, would most likely be put in situations where they might die.
He really didn't want that to happen.
The door to the observation room opened, and Naruto barely held back a gulp. This guy was nowhere near as intimidating as the Kyuubi, but up close, he was still scary.
Ibiki gave Naruto a glance, before turning to Anko. Who knew who Naruto was, what he was, and like most of the senior ninja forces at the time of the attack, he didn't blame Naruto for his prisoner's actions. But he still needed to know what was so important that Anko interrupted him.
"What is it Anko?"
Anko looked at the Naruto. She and Ibiki had planned this for a while, ever since Naruto told her about his emotion sensing ability. She figured, if he could help them interrogate prisoners, or at least tell them whether or not they were lying, they could…compensate him. Unofficially of course. The council would have a fit if they knew a child was working in T & I.
"The brat here," she paused, taking a moment to enjoy Naruto's annoyed expression. He still hated it when she called him that, and she still loved doing it. "He says that the guy in there is lying about who ordered the kidnapping," she finished with a flourish, indicating the prisoner.
Ibiki looked back at his 'patient'. He'd gotten the information out of the man a little too easily, but he hadn't been sure until now what exactly he'd been lied to about. Time to get stuck in. Again.
He nodded at Naruto and Anko. "Thanks kid". Naruto beamed at that. "Why don't you and Anko wait upstairs, I'll get back to you as soon as I'm done with him", he said, pointing over his shoulder at Haro.
Anko led him out the room and back up the stairs. Looking over his shoulder, Naruto saw Ibiki returning to interrogation room. He almost felt sorry for Haro. Almost.
What kidnapper goes after the heiress of a clan that can see through walls. Idiot.
Naruto eagerly counted the Ryo Ibiki had just given him. "600…700…1000. Whoa" he thought. This was almost as much as he could steal in a day. "So, how about it kid" he looked up at Ibiki. If this was what he was paid for five minutes work…
" Sure, I'll work for you" he said happily.
The matching grins on Ibiki and Anko, if anyone had been around to see them, would have sent them screaming to their mothers.
And done. Slightly longer chapter this time, hope you enjoyed it.
Naruto won't be 'working' full time, just whenever Ibiki feels they need confirmation on a particularly difficult subject. With the emotion sensing ability, and being friends with Anko, it was inevitable that this would happen.
Next chapter, will have some more fuuinjutsu, more Kakashi, probably chakra string training, and possibly another small time skip.
Let me know what you think, and any advice you feel could be useful.
Keep well, keep reading, and keep writing.
