Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Wheel of Time. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction meant only for entertainment.
Hinata Sedai
by Lerris Smith
-«Chapter Nine»-
Time passed. They learned and Hinata was healed bit by bit, though far slower than she might have wished. Before long it was time for Jiraiya to report. Shizune and Tsunade came with him, with the former adding wards of Saidar to the Hokage tower itself, with additional help from Yugao and Koharu. These wards were designed to keep everything out that wasn't human, so the trick Hinata had stumbled onto which partly supported them with natural energy was not going to work. They would have to be maintained daily. Koharu had volunteered for that task. It was hoped that by adding those wards to the chakra based wards that already existed, that they would be truly secure against all forms of spying. They still hadn't located that dang spying plant, or whatever it was that was leaking Konoha secrets.
The third asked them, "Is it worth it? As things are now, Hinata isn't teaching anyone except Shizune and Tenten and no one new has been discovered, unless Suna has someone they are not telling us about."
Jiraiya said, "I think so. The boys nature chakra training and sage training is going very well." He glanced at Tsunade who added, "Tenten may be up to academy level chakra usage in another six months or so. Her chakra coils suffered little degradation and are accepting Naruto's chakra reasonably well, as surprising as that is. The insane workouts Gai had her doing, likely put her in a far better position to handle that chakra. Hinata is making progress though slowly. Her coils are delicate and still in fairly bad shape. I don't know why, but it likely traces back to whatever sent her back in time. Perhaps chakra coils were not a concern. I don't know. I must move very slowly with the repairs if I don't want to shatter them. The sludge that Naruto has for chakra does not help at all. She will take another one to two years minimum. She doesn't like it, but at least she obeys instructions. She also goes through extreme pain every time I do the procedure on her, and I do it twice a week now at her insistence."
Sarutobi said, "That bad. I see the value of chakra, even for those like Hinata, but I'm not sure this is the best use of their time..."
Tsunade said, "I hate to agree with the pervert, but you just can't underestimate the basics. Sure the academy clones and henge are pretty useless against any semi competent enemy, but kawarimi is not, and chakra enhanced movement is most certainly not. Frankly if they don't see an enemy from a distance, then they could be killed fairly easily, particularly if it was anyone remotely fast."
"I don't disagree. I was more talking about making sure more people get trained in Saidar. While you are at Mount Myoboku, that is not happening. So far no one else has even gotten good enough to do the test."
"Can't be helped," Jiraiya shrugged. "Naruto is coming along well, but his training is hardly complete, and due to the complications we discussed, they need to be there as well. Well, in theory some of the training could be done here, but right now can you really say all of it could be kept secret? Frankly with the kind of things those kids get up to, I'm not eager to risk knowledge of their skills getting out."
The Third nodded.
Shizune said, "I'll ask Hinata to take time to teach me that skill first and foremost when I go back."
"Thank you."
Shizune continued, "I just wish I could duplicate their chakra trick, preferably before my coils look like Hinata's. We don't really understand just what Naruto did, let alone how to change it or duplicate it, and believe me I've tried."
The Third Hokage mused, "It is possible that it is something uniquely Uzumaki, such as their chakra chains. Perhaps it is even something related to the Kyuubi or the seal. He has been using two sources of chakra, whether he likes it or not, since birth, though thankfully the seal is well known to filter that part of things quite well. Hmm, does this link they have work with Nature Energy?"
"Simply put yes," Tsunade admitted. "though it is not that simple. It seems Naruto mixes it before it touches the link. When he was first learning Nature chakra. He found it trying to move towards their bonds. Somehow he figured out how to move his own chakra and then force that to mix. It technically didn't stop the Nature energy, but it diluted it. The link between them just seems to flow whatever is there without anyone's control. So if they had a day or so to prepare, Naruto could load up on Nature Energy, then those two would get the benefits, though again it is hardly sage level. It kicks their abilities up a notch whenever it does work, but thats it. Put another way, C rank abilities might move up to B rank, at best."
Jiraiya said, "There is one other thing I've been noticing, that I guessed you missed." The two kunochi looked curious as Jiraiya said, "That chakra flow thing between them, I think it moves a bit faster when they are using more. I doubt its fast enough for them to suddenly switch to ever really be in sage mode, but they don't run out of chakra nearly as quick as you would expect them to."
Tsunade considered what he said before adding, "I think the pervert is correct. Flow rate must be somehow related to chakra coil pressure, so when they use up a bunch, it increases somewhat. I'll have to try to figure out how to measure it."
"Wait," the Third asked, "They can have mixed Nature chakra in their systems for potentially days?"
Jiraiya grinned. "That's why it is so cool. I still don't quite get how the gaki does it, but it is not mixed, at least in the ordinary sense. A normal sage as you know twines their chakra finely with Nature chakra, which produces something they can use for amazing endurance and all the rest. It is also why they have to use it or dump it, since that twining is incredibly difficult to maintain and will, over a relatively short time, come undone, potentially violently. In Naruto, he combines Nature chakra with his own into a completely new chakra that is inseparable."
The Third turned to Shizune, "Did you find out anything else about Naruto's trick?"
"Not yet, no. I tried time and again to duplicate every step he could remember, but so far nothing. Tsunade has done the same. Well, obviously, I didn't pop in to say high to a demon.."
"What?" Sarutobi exclaimed.
Shizune said, "I had almost forgot. When he was trying to meditate to figure out how to manipulate Nature's energy he thought he saw the fox briefly or at least he vaguely recalls the fox asking something, but not what. From what little I know, I don't think he has seen him since."
Jiraiya said, "A Jinchuriki managing to contact the tailed beast sealed within him or herself is hardly new."
"True," mused Sarotobi, "yet I would have like to known what the beast said."
Jiraiya shrugged. "Inochi is out in his case, and asking him to deliberately try to talk to the Kyuubi seems a very bad idea."
The Third nodded. "Is there anything else?" Seeing nothing further added he said, "First of all, I need Jiraiya to take a trip to Wind and look at the Kazekage son's seal. Temari has been asking, close to outright begging, that we help her brother with his seal. It seems the demon doesn't let him sleep. I don't need to tell you what a problem an unstable Jinchuriki is. His family has been apparently trying to help him, but it is only have limited effect. Any resources you need for this, within reason, will be provided. Like it or not, we need Wind strong right now, what with them helping us keep reign over Iwa."
Jiraiya said hesitantly, "I can look, though it is not as if you normally get a mulligan when it comes to a Jinchuriki's seal." He considered for several seconds before saying, "Actually, I'd like the kid and his girls to help if they could."
Tsunade glared at him for his choice of words. Jiraiya pretended not to notice saying, "Hinata studied the Uzumaki eight trigrams sealing style a fair amount before coming back. Oh its not remotely enough for her to be trusted to actually create the seal. I'd do that. No, I was thinking, perhaps with a combination from the blood from all three, then powering the seal with a mix of Saidar and Naruto's unique blend of Nature and regular chakra, that it might be very effective."
The Third sighed. "What makes you think that would work? I know there was that mystery sword that the toads are hushing up, but really? Is this wise? High level fuinjutsu is hardly safe or easy at the best of times."
"Anything they do together appears to be pushing S-Class. The weapons they made before, even without sage chakra are nearly priceless. Tenten wants to try her hand again with sage chakra to reform their weapons, but for some reason Hinata is hesitant, saying only that it is not yet time. I think there may be a toad prophecy involved there, or at least a discussion I don't know about, but that is only a guess."
"In the end it comes down to this simple fact, the only way I know to create a decent seal is for someone to die in the process, and even then, we would have to start over with a young child. Sure you don't have to invoke the Shinigami to seal the Shukaku, but it is still a major undertaking. The only way to guarantee the permanency required is for someone to die, ideally voluntarily, though we know that is not a strict requirement. Still, sealing Biju is not and never will be easy. Fixing a seal is bound to not be either."
"The only card I can think of that might work without transferring the demon is to adapt the Uzumaki seal to what is there and use the trio purely for power. I don't know if it will work, but it is the best shot we have. The choice is simple. We try to make my plan work or we sacrifice Gaara, at least one other, and destroy another young child's life, and I'd really rather not do that."
"Beyond that, teaching someone to replicate what Minato did is flat out, unless of course you want to keep them locked up till they do the deed. That isn't likely to go over well, and I'm doubtful Suna wants to sacrifice another seal master, if they even have one of the required caliber. I'm willing to try, but they need to know just how risky this is. Frankly the best bet is likely to try to do it in the middle of nowhere, then if things go to hell, we just get the heck out."
The third asked quietly, "When could you and your team be ready?"
Tsunade said, "Your not serious!"
"What would you have me do? The only other option is to do nothing, hope Akatsuki picks him up, and hope that doesn't turn out too bad. I'm not willing to do that. Jinchuriki, as they are now, are relatively poor users of their demon's power. Most of the time it is locked up and dormant. Letting any group that potentially has a way to effectively harness that power do so is insanity at its simplest."
"How does fixing his seal help? He still wouldn't stand a chance against them."
"We make it harder. If he is sane, he will be harder to pick up. Also, as things are now, no Sand Ninja will get near him, which makes him very difficult to guard."
Tsunade nodded, saying nothing more.
Jiraiya said, "Give me a couple months. I need to study the Uzumaki style again and get people ready. I could wish Naruto was actually far enough along to do it, as Uzumaki seals tend to work better for actual Uzumaki. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten much past basic explosive seals, which was what Tenten wanted. I also want to test on smaller seals and such first. The staging area also needs figured out. I'll leave that between you and Suna."
"Very well," said the Third. "I am also going to send Team Gai you, that is if you can get the Toads to accept them."
"Why?" asked Jiraiya.
The third said, "Their purpose will be to help you with your second task. Suna wants a large reservoir of water, or rather several more large reservoirs of water."
Without batting an eye, Jiraiya said, "So, like Iwa huh?."
"Not quite," said the Third. "They don't just want water. They also want a place to store it. Temari thought Hinata might have some ideas. If need be they will build the storage areas themselves. We do, however, get a substantially better deal if we can do both."
"You can't drink sea water," noted Tsunade.
"It seems that they have a jutsu for that. We get a copy of it upon successful completion of the mission."
"Very well," said Jiraiya. "Unless something changes, in two months time we will head to Suna. I have some contacts there that I have been neglecting. After fixing Gaara's seal, I'd also like to get in touch with some others contacts around the world. Hinata should be able to handle the second part of the mission by herself anyway."
Shizune said, "I will help. It should take much less time that way."
"Fine," Tsunade said, "But none of your stops at whore houses. I can almost believe that you get information there, but I'll still not put up with it."
Jiraiya said smoothly, "You are always welcome hime."
As if anticipating the question, the Third said, "Akatsuki has been somewhat quiet of late from what I gathered. I don't know why, maybe Jiraiya's contacts know something. We did find and kill a couple of Orochimaru's cursed seal bearers, but they seemed more rejects than anything else. Anko got in contact with Tazuna of Wave, who has agreed to supervise the creation of the new Namikaze home himself and is offering a very nice deal since it is far the village that saved his town, though he doesn't know Naruto himself was involved. Anko put up what money she had, which is enough for now, but I believe you were going to pay for most of it."
Jiraya said, "I'll stop by before we head back and get her a voucher. He is using stone right? Hinata was insistent on that, saying she could strengthen it later."
"He is. Gai should be easy enough to find at his usual training ground."
"And Sai?" asked Jiraiya quietly.
"Danzo appears to be accepting his new lot in life, yet it would be prudent to find a way to occupy him. If it was the monkeys, I'm quite sure something could be arranged."
Tsunade smirked before a frown graces her pretty face. "Actually, Sarutobi-sensei, I'd like Sakura as well. I know I put her in the hands of the hospital staff for training for when I was out, but she probably needs individual training by now. Is there no way we can just grab Neji and her? The less I hear of youth the better."
The Third chuckled. He said, "Well Neji could be excellent for helping to make sure their new cistern system is built well, and in the case of Sakura, it could just be written off as training, which is what your all down for anyway. No, that is not the real problem. Are you guys up to facing Akatsuki, since once you are visible to the average Suna ninja, word is likely to get back to them. In fact, you likely don't want to be gone too long talking to contacts. They are likely to strike."
Jiraiya said hesitantly, "I believe so. It would be better if Hime and I were there, and your right, we will keep in touch. Naruto can send a Toad to me if something happens, so we can be back very quickly. Of course, it would be nice if they would just give us a few years to really get to the top of our game, but I don't think we can count on that."
"You can go back to training as soon as your done with both missions. Additionally, I want each of your channelers to keep an up to date scroll with at least where you currently are ready to send through a gate at a moments notice, particularly once your in Suna. It is my understanding from Koharu that opening a gate just big enough for that can be done fairly quickly. I'll dedicate a small room for the reception point and have a few of the small ones from the Monkey clan watch over it. If you need help, either send for it or get out. Dying is not something any of you have permission to do. Understood?"
"Understood."
Tsunade added, "The more I think about it, the farther along we can delay the inevitable Hyuga mess when her clan confronts Hinata the better. Sure they believe she is now a failure as a Hyuga, but I know that clan. If she can come back with at least the basics, it might give them an excuse to save face, though I am less than certain."
The Hokage said, "My sources are fairly certain that they will never accept her. She treats the branch as equals and has never once used their seal against them. The elders know she wants to abolish it and will not tolerate it. The only thing they might have accepted is for her to be branded and tossed into the branch, where they could kill her at their leisure."
"Then Hinata will very likely slaughter her clan elders," said Jiraiya quietly. "Sadly, that would likely be the best outcome, since if all goes well, Negi might succeed, and we sure as the hell can't do it. If we got caught messing in a clan's politics like that all hell would break out."
"Work on it," commanded their leader.
"Hokage-sama," said a slightly surprised Shizune. The other two gave grim nods.
-«oOo»-
Neji continued to spend all the time he dared working on the cursed seal. Work had slowed considerably since Naruto and his endless supply of clones had left. He had, by necessity, began working with Gai, with occasional help from Hiashi himself. Both could make shadow clones, but only a couple at best, particularly in Hiashi's case, as the clan would notice his changed chakra levels. The Hyuuga council was still annoyed that they could not somehow get control of this new power. Many had suggested branding Hinata, just to make sure they got control of it, and had even suggested brands for any other women who had it.
Hiashi, in his role as clan head pointed out that doing so would be an act of treason to the leaf. They had not brought that up again though a significant majority of the elders still voted for Hinata to be sealed and controlled. Ironically, the reason now was not because she was weak. From the little bits and pieces Hiashi told them it was obvious it was not. Their official reason now was because she had disgraced the main family by losing the Byakugan.
Negi could, however, read between the lines as well as anyone. In fact he was fairly sure his guess as to their reason now, was the same as it was before. They did not want her sealed because she was weak. After all, a weak clan head tended to be little more than a puppet, which was just fine with them. They wanted her sealed because, first and foremost they saw her threatening their positions. She visibly didn't treat the branch house as lessor beings, and should the branch house come to belief they were not, well that would endanger their positions.
He saw it all now. He saw how he had been manipulated to hate the head house, and in particular the head family after his own father was killed, in what he now knew was a volunteer mission to protect his brother. The elders wanted Negi to kill Hinata and end their little problem, and he very nearly did it in the other timeline. He saw how her father was cruel to her, but a part of him saw into that as well. Her father saw his dead brother. Her father saw his dead wife. He saw and compared Hinata to them, and she could not measure up, well until now. It was wrong in the extreme to blame her for what happened to them, but had he not done the same? He wished she was back now, somehow certain that she would find the way he had so far failed to find.
He had another thing he wished to discuss with Hinata. The Iwa kunochi had been released from questioning. She had even been permitted to join various genin teams for D-rank missions, provided they did not leave Konoha. Team Kakashi and team Asuma had been the ones most assigned. He supposed Kakashi and Asuma knew, but their genin did not. This was the woman who had killed Naruto Uzumaki in the future, most likely on orders of a man now dead. He had watched her because of this, usually from quite a distance. One could not stop a Hyuga from watching them, and she was certainly no exception to that rule. He had seen she was still bound with her own seal. It was a seal that locked away almost all of her chakra. He had even read the lips of Kakashi who, one day when she seemed quite depressed, said that good behavior might still see it removed someday. He had also seen that she experience terrible pain at times, and sometimes, strange things seemed to happen around her. Sometimes lightning would strike very near her. Sometimes it would do it twice in a row. So far it had not hit her, but it was strange. Simple campfires would flare and spit for no apparent reason. There was also the faint glow around her at those times. He hoped Hinata was back soon. She had known that Tenten would channel sooner or later, whether she liked it or not. She had also been very close to Kurotsuchi. Did she know and not say for a reason? That seemed the most likely. Perhaps in the end Hinata was more similar to the rest of the Hyuga than even she knew. He found himself disappointed in that, yet he also understood, at least a little bit.
He was surprised to be given orders from Gai to proceed to a point several miles outside the village for a C-rank mission, particularly sense he had less than thirty minutes to get there. Usually there was more than that, particularly for a C rank, and usually he had his team. He dashed to grab a storage scroll from his room, before running to the indicated location. Even with the threat from Saidar, sealing was still very useful, and the danger could be mitigated to some extent by strapping it to ones back, well provided there was some hidden metal armor, and that was just good sense.
-«oOo»-
Neji was two minutes late to the lake that was the rendezvous location. He was a bit surprised to see Tsunade's assistant Shizune there waiting for her.
She said, "Excellent timing Neji. We are still waiting for Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Sakura. I believe Tsunade was going to fetch Sakura so it is possible they will all arrive together, though it may be a little while."
"What is the mission?" he asked.
"Suna is going to build or rather dramatically expand their network of cisterns. We have been tasked to assist with that building. You are along to help spot weaknesses in the construction."
"Two sannin are going to be building a water reservoir?"
"No. They have other tasks."
Neji nodded, reasonably certain he would not get a better answer from her.
She walked over to him and whispered to him. "Are we alone? Check very carefully."
Neji silently activated his Byakugan and searched for any anomaly, ignoring nothing. Finally after five full minutes of detailed inspection he yawned and said just as softly, "I believe so."
She whispered to him, while hiding her lips from outside view, "Are you able to continue your task with your current equipment?"
Neji paled slightly, sure that she did not mean the Suna job. Finally, hesitantly, he nodded.
In a normal tone she said, "We have a little time. Care for a spar?"
Neji looked at her carefully, uncertain if this was a good idea. She stepped on his thoughts when she said, "Yes, I'm a medic nin, but yes I too can fight."
Neji nodded as he slipped into the standard opening stance of the Jyuken before activating his Byakugan again. He had to rapidly dodge when several senbon shot out of a hidden launcher. He tried to sweep her legs out from under her, only to crash his foot into what seemed an almost solid bar of air. He tried to begin the thirty two hands move to shut her down, only to slam his hands into congealed air, inches from her body. He increased the chakra in his strikes. The air seemed to be cut slightly, with his fingers getting nearer.
Suddenly Tsunade's voice spoke, "Enough." They stepped apart. Tsunade added, "Open the way please Shizune." Sakura and Jiraiya were to either side of her.
Suddenly a line of light formed and rotated into a hole in the air. Everyone stepped though quickly, only to step out onto a little plateau on top of a mountain, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, though he thought it might be somewhere far to the south. Jiraiya nicked his thumb before his hands blurred and he whispered, "Kuchiyosi no jutsu" as he hit the ground with his open hand. Suddenly five toads, each large enough to carry a man appeared. The largest toad, which was next to Jiraiya said, "Get on. My dinner is getting cold."
Seeing as that was what everyone else was doing, Neji too carefully moved onto the back of the giant toad before the world fell away, and suddenly it was a lot warmer and more humid. He noticed the others dismount and quickly followed suit. The largest one said, "Welcome to Mount Myoboku, home of the Toads." With that all four hopped off, presumably back to the as yet unfinished dinner.
Sakura mouth was hanging slightly open when Shizune reached over and gently helped her close it. Jiraiya said, "It is incredibly rare for any non toad summoner to be allowed to be here, so be on your best behavior. Come on, let's go see what the gaki's are doing."
They found Naruto sitting in what seemed to be a waterfall full of dirty oil. Next to him, on either side, was Hinata and Tenten, each of which was covered with the substance. The view so shocked him, that it was him who had to consciously close his voice. This was what Tenten was doing and the heir to the great and noble Hyuga line.
A very small and short toad with a full bear said, "Good. It seems your link goes both ways when you want it to. It even seems to work better that way, which is odd. Being able to push extra Nature energy into Naruto could have great value in a fight."
Shizune looked on in wonder before saying, "Is this, you know, safe?"
"Safe?" snarked a similarly old toad, though this one was obviously female. "It is not remotely safe. They may have a bit of chakra from the boy, but not enough to resist what they are pulling in. They are just resisting the change with their own power. I'm amazed it worked at all."
"How long have they been doing this? I thought Naruto was passed using the oil to absorb Nature's chakra." said Jiraiya.
Pa said, "They started on a small scale the night you left. You know just a drop of oil, but it didn't take them long to be here. As far as Naruto goes. The purpose of this is for him to limit his intake to what he can handle and purge it, even under less than ideal conditions."
"I thought he didn't have to purge," Tsunade said.
Ma said, "He doesn't, unless he over does it. Sitting in the pool, and getting three times the energy one normally would is over doing it."
Jiraiya said in awe, "So they are learning to be sages in their own right?"
Pa said, "Not really. They may have some of the skills, but a true sage is more than that. Being able to use Sage chakra at a competent level with only ones own chakra is a key part. We did allow them to sign the scroll, just to give them that protection, but they can't really use it to summon anyone useful with their chakra levels. The main benefit is that we can reverse summon them as a group, should that be required." Pa spoke louder, right towards Naruto, "Alright, that is enough for now."
None of them opened their eyes. They just carefully felt for the way out of the waterfall and stepped out, carefully grabbing towels that were hanging on nearby tree branches. Once they had wiped their faces and eyes they opened them and looked around.
"Sakura-chan."
"Neji."
"Naruto."
"Neji-nisan." After speaking Hinata concentrated and motioned first towards Naruto and then towards Tenten before returning to herself. Most of the accumulated oil slipped off and floated back over to where the waterfall drained.
"So what is up guys?" asked Naruto.
Tsunade said, "Tell us Neji, how close to you on being able to safely remove the caged bird seal?" Neji looked around, worried, settling on Sakura before looking back at Tsunade. She said, "Sakura knows when to keep her mouth shut. Right Sakura."
Sakura said, "As you say, Tsunade-sama."
Neji said hesitantly, "Not well. Oh I know exactly how to apply it. Heck, I can almost apply it in combat. I even have a fairly good idea of how and why it works, but so far, every clone I've experimented on has died a messy death. Once the seal initializes any attempt to cut a component causes the embedded trigger to activate. The trigger itself as well as the part that actually kills is well hidden under all the other layers."
Pa said, "So this is the Juin Jutsu of the Hyuga clan eh?"
"Yes Gama-sama," said Neji, trying to guess at a form of address.
"Pa works. Everyone calls me Pa."
"As you say, Pa-sama."
Pa glared, but then ignored it. He said, "Gamakaji knows a fair amount about seals. You could try him."
Neji said, "The problem is, I'm not sure there is a way to prevent that trigger from activating. Hinata has even tried Saidar and got nowhere."
Naruto said, "Well if you can't stop the thing from going off, why not just make it so it doesn't kill the target?"
"Pardon me," said Neji, "But I assure you seal is very effective. The notes I have from the person who worked on it before assure me that it has worked every time it has been triggered in our history without fail."
"Well, did that person have Nature's chakra flowing through them?"
"What?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "You can't expect all the Hyuga to undergo sage training. It would probably kill most if not all of them."
Tsunade formed a cross hands signed and silently created a shadow clone. She said, "Gaki, your full up on Sage Chakra right?"
Naruto nodded.
Tsunade said, "Neji, put the seal on my clone over here." The clone warily raise a hand, not liking this outcome. Neji shrugged and went over to the clone. At his direction the clone bent down. Neji resisted the temptation to stare and quickly inscribe the seal on her head with a point of sharpened chakra. The full seal would use ink and chakra, but just chakra was enough for a shadow clone. A few seconds later the seal solidified, just under where Tsunade's chakra seal would be, if this was the original. Seals were not duplicated by any kind of bunshin."
He said, "It is done."
The original Tsunade said, "Okay gaki, get over here and see if you can feed some medical chakra into my clones back. Be careful, a light touch is needed if you don't want to dispel the clone."
Confused, Naruto did so, carefully letting green medical chakra flow into the clone. "How much?" he asked. Tsunade's clone said, "Keep it coming kid. If I'm gonna go boom, I might as well go big." A minute later the clone said, "Stop. Jeeze. You have far too much chakra, you know that?"
Naruto grinned sheepishly. The clone said, "Okay Neji, do your worst."
"It won't really explode, will it?" asked a cautious Neji. There had been a lot of chakra there.
"Nah," Tsunade said. "We'll probably not."
Negi gulped as he carefully began to pick apart the seal, doing everything he had learned to avoid the inevitable. One bit remained. He steeled himself and cut the last segment. A burst of green energy through him across the yard, only to be held in a flow of air by someone and quickly lowered.
He looked back at where the clone was, only to see the glow recede onto an unmarred forehead. "Am I dreaming?" he absently questioned.
The clone said, "Nope! Though that seal was a bastard. I managed to direct enough medical chakra under and around the seal before you blew it, then it was a simple matter for me to heal the damage to myself. Oddly enough that sludge the gaki normally uses is actually kinda useful when it's mixed with Nature's energy and changed to medical chakra. Though the gaki really needs to work on it. It was still a low grade conversion at best."
Naruto blinked, as did several others.
"A shadow clone that can heal itself," said a stunned Jiraiya.
"A shadow clone that can kick your arse!" said the proud clone. The real Tsunade looked on in confusion and curiousity. She said, "Beat the pervert later. Come here."
Tsunade carefully inspected the clone with a glowing green hand. "It is gone, yet I've never heard of a clone healing itself, and I know mine have tried before."
Pa said, "I finally get a decent student!"
Jiraiya pouted, before nodding as well.
The clone went over to Jiraiya, "How about it? I want to test this out and see if I can do it again!"
The toad summoner jumped back and tossed a Kunai at the clone, who easily sidestepped it.
"Come on. Take me seriously. It won't be a good test if you don't!"
Shizune muttered, "I think the chakra may have affected the clones neural pathways, well that or the seal blowing up."
The clone glared, casually swatting some shuriken out of the air, before jumping towards Jiraiya and landing a chakra enhance foot on the ground before him, before jumping away. The earth shattered before her feet. Jiraiya jumped away at the same time as Ma and Pa toad said, "Stop!"
Sheepishly the clone stopped combat and looked at the wrecked ground. She said quietly, "Um Jiraiya, your better at Earth Jutsu than me, could you?"
Jiraiya looked at the damage and sighed. He dropped to his knees and poured and enormous amount of chakra into the ground as he knitted it back together. He panted slightly after the effort. "Best I can do I'm afraid."
Hinata said softly, "To me." Tenten and Naruto looked up and nodded. Naruto placed his left arm on Hinata's right shoulder while Tenten did the same on the opposite side. They walked in sync to the center of the devastation. Hinata knelt on the ground with her team following her down. She placed her hands on the devestated ground. Her face, along with Tenten's lit up with nothing less than an expression of pure serenity. Grass began to grow around her fingers. The area soon began to spread. A broken tree in the path straightened and grew straighter. Moss on a boulder seemed to shine. Flowers began to pop up here and there. It took the better part of an hour for it all to happen, but when it was done the area was healed. It would never be the same as it was, but the scars were gone and life had returned. A small smile graced Hinata's lips as she got up from the ground and looked at what she had done.
Ma said firmly, "You have repaired what you damaged, but you must remember this day. This must not happen again. This place is sacred to us. Do not do it again."
The clone looked particularly guilty. Tsunade said, "Naruto, do you have the strengh for a couple clones?" He nodded and made them. "Okay, have the clones take Sakura and my troublesome clone where they can get some studying done. I expect to see the quality of your medical chakra improve. See to it."
After they were gone Shizune asked, "I wonder how long that clone will last."
"With my chakra control and that much chakra it could last a month. I'll dispel it later tonight though. I'm not risking a bigger headache than that, or worse brain damage. Who knows, the clone might gain some insights into how Naruto can best improve. It is more made of his chakra than mine after all."
Neji, finally out of patience, asked, "So will this process work?"
"No," Tsunade said. "At least not like that. Who knows what would happen if Naruto tried to push that much medical chakra in a living person. The fact that the clone copied my chakra coils is the only reason it could stand it. His control improving will no doubt help, but won't be enough." Neji nodded dejected. She continued, "Fortunately, while a direct copy of this little escapade is likely fatal, we did make progress. Unfortunately, I see no alternative now but to find test subjects."
"Hime," Jiraiya called warningly.
"I know, but it is the only way. You can send a toad to Sensei and get a good bandit or merc clean up mission. With some of your special scrolls, we can store them for a bit."
Pa said, "You will not do this on this ground."
"I would never think of it," agreed Tsunade. The elder toads let out small sighs of relief.
"I still don't like it hime," cautioned Jiraiya.
"I don't either, but like it or not, sooner or later a new medical procedure has to be tried on humans. I assume you don't want to actually experiement on branch members. I suppose we could kidnap the Hyuga elder's, but if it was ever traced back that we had done so, it would be messy." While she said this she gave Hinata a meaningful look.
Hinata then turned to Neji and said softly, "You will make a good clan head when it is time Neji-nisan." Naruto's original self froze and scarcely dared move as he watched the unfolding events. He quietly slipped behind Hinata and gently pulled her to himself, supporting, but not demanding.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"It is really quite simple, is it not? From Tsunade-sama's words it seems it has even been authorized." said Hinata in a sad tone.
"What has been authorized?"
"When we are ready to remove the seal, I shall go and dispose of all the Hyuga elders that would object to it. I can only think of a few that might be spared, but we can discuss it later. It really is the only way. After that, Neji can become the heir and eventually lead the clan." She said this so dispassionately that it was almost scary. Only her small tremors let people know what this was really costing her.
"What?" asked Tenten. "I thought you were trying to get your eyes to work right again and all the rest. That way you could still lead your clan."
"The one to kill so many can not lead. No matter how many are secretly relieved, there will be no future for me among the Hyuga."
"I could do it," offered Neji.
Hinata said, "I have pledged myself to be by my beloved's side for as long as we both still live." She leaned a little back into Naruto as she said this. "I have risked the world to achieve that goal, without thought to how it would truly affect my family. Father was right in this much. I am a very poor heir. So no Neji. It must be me."
The too continued to stare at each other until Neji bowed low before her. "I promise on our shared blood to do my absolute best to heal the clan."
From behind Hinata Naruto said, "And I too promise to be by your side for as long as we both live." Hinata's tremors stilled. She turned and kissed him softly on the cheek before saying simply, "Thank you. Thank you so much." She was still shaking, even as she kissed him.
-«oOo»-
Clone Tsunade began by testing Sakura's medical knowledge. She then had her do several basic medical jutsus while analyzing the quality of her work.
Tsunade said, "Okay, Sakura, we don't have the real Naruto here so our options are limited." "Actually," she said evilly, "perhaps they are less limited than we thought. These are made of half Nature chakra."
The Narutos gulped in fear. The one on the left said, "What do you want?" The other started evaluating possible exits.
Tsunade said, "Sakura, chakra scapel and healing exercise."
Sakura nodded, even as she formed a scapel and started to cut into her own arm. Tsunade said, "Not on you, on them. Keep it small. They are delicate."
The Narutos sweat dropped, but warily held out their arms.
Sakura used a chakra scalpel to create a small scratch on the clone. She kept waiting for the clone to pop, but it held together, complete with apparent blood. She shifted to the mystic palm jutsu and carefully healed the scratch.
"Good," Tsunade said, "but too slow. Your chakra flow is also slightly uneven. Fix that and repeat."
While Sakura was using the Naruto clones as a test dummy, the Tsunade clone continued to speak. She said, "Pay attention Naruto. Focus on how her chakra flows cleanly and is fluid and flexible."
The unoccupied Naruto glared. "I've spent probably a decade on chakra control excercises. I'm doing my best!"
"Yes, I know you have. That shadow clone jutsu is very useful. It allows you to master abilities that would otherwise be impossible to someone with so much chakra. It doesn't change the fact that your ability to supply undifferentiated medical chakra is amazingly useful. It doesn't change the fact that the ability has saved lives, and will very likely help save people you know in the future. Now, are you satisfied with what you have, or do you want to try to improve further?"
He breathed in an out, pulling over one of the techniques Hinata had taught to reign in his emotions. "Your right. I'll do my best."
"Good, now I'm going to try to reform the chakra I have now into pure medical chakra. I'm not certain it will work, but if I pop, then you can ask the real me for the next steps."
Sakura had just finished healing the now deeper cut for the third time. She said, "I'm amazed this even works."
"So am I," said the medic clone. Said clone focused chakra in her hand with intense focus, shifting it between blue and a rich verdant green. She said, "Naruto, create some medical chakra in your palm for Sakura to inspect." He did so, and the Tsunade clone did the same saying, "Sakura, your the only real one here. Compare and contrast."
The pink haired genin felt each pool of chakra carefully. "Naruto's is dense, eager, and not quite pure. It is technically an incomplete conversion, though likely close enough not to cause rejection. It is a very odd flavor for medical chakra. Brighter than normal. If I had to guess, I'd say Naruto perfectly blended Nature chakra with his own, such that there is no difference I can discern, but somehow failed to convert all of that chakra into untainted medical chakra. I have no explanation. His chakra is certainly different, though I assume that is the Nature chakra merged with his own."
She switches to the Tsunade clone. "Yours is not one chakra. It is two, wound together and reshaped. I assume that is not your desired result, but it seems that since part of your chakra is not your own, you are unable to fully blend it. I can sense your original chakra and what Naruto was just showing me. Both are now fluid, soft, and gentle, though your original is clearly behaving better. You harmonize it with my own, almost without thought, but the part that is from Naruto doesn't work as well, doesn't quite fully harmonize. Your original chakra also feels like what I know of your chakra."
"So," the Tsunade clone said, "In your opinion could I reliably heal with this?"
Sakura considered for several seconds before saying, "For day to day things I believe so. For battlefield emergency healing I believe so. For things requiring extreme delicacy, I'm less than certain. If Naruto can improve his conversion then those problems will likely partly go away, though I'd imagine there are limits. From what little I know, he easily has Kage or better reserves right?"
Tsunade nodded.
"Has someone with such reserves ever been able to make completely pure medical chakra?"
Tsunade shrugged, "A year ago, I'd have thought the control he has was impossible to achieve. It clearly is not. We will have to work on it. Besides, Naruto has, as far as I know, been stuck doing all the chakra control exercises Hinata knows. I know a great many more, and have developed many of them myself. As my chakra reserves grew, so too did my need for more control."
Naruto said, "Thank kami. I was so tired of doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. Clone training is good and all that, but when you get the memories it can be mind numbing bordom multiplied by a lot."
Tsunade laughed.
Sakura said, "Tsunade-sama, I have read about a way to enhance the rate of chakra coil growth."
"No." said the clone.
"I know it is dangerous, but I figured that if Naruto could improve enough, and he took in Nature energy, and you monitored, we could slightly pressurize my chakra coils."
"I'm not sure you realize exactly what you ask. One mistake, and you would be crippled."
"But wouldn't the nature chakra help, and again we could say do it once a week. It would take time, but I think it would work?" Both Narutos looked on in concern.
"What do you want Sakura-chan?" asked Tsunade.
"I don't ask to be as strong as you, or anyone else, but you and I know the reason I'm so bloody good at control is that my chakra supply is pretty dang small. I also know that people are training incredibly hard in the village for something, and you even brought me here for more training. I want to at least be able to do my fair share, be it to heal, or to fight."
Tsunade said, "I had planned to give you a copy of my strength seal when you were old enough and strong enough, though Saidar's ability to breach at least some seals makes that dangerous. Very well, your path may work. Shall we do it now?"
"Now," said a suddenly not very eager Sakura.
"Yes now. Naruto isn't up to the quality required, but I am. You just inspected my medical chakra."
"But then I would have three different chakras, rather than two."
"And that matters how? It is not as if you won't burn through it." said the senior medic.
"I just figured it was better to wait till he improved some more."
"You may not have noticed or believed but Naruto effectively spent a decade on chakra control and remembers it all. That is the result of a ridiculous amount of Kage Bunshin training. Yes, he can continue to improve, but it won't be easy. It will be months in real time at best and years in memories. The process you want will take years to do what you want and you will need those years to keep up your skills with your changing coils. I'm telling you right now, it is quite possible that your control will never be as good as it is now. Is it worth it? You could also try Hinata's path. That may work."
"Ever since I learned about it from you and Shizune-nechan, I had considered learning it. The fact that she cannot sense the ability in me, likely means I do not have it as strong as those she can sense it in. What if I'm as weak there as I am in chakra? At least with chakra I can be effective with a smaller amount. Worst case, I can work in the hospital. Perhaps I can't save dozens at once, but I'll at least be able to save some. After Sasuke, I need that much. I'll not risk losing that too. Please, let's do the surgery."
Pointing at the Narutos, Tsunade said, "Both of you watch carefully." She formed medical chakra into a simple sharp blade less than a inch long. "It is shape manipulation, but with medical chakra. It is the precursor to chakra scalpels. I believe you already know some shape manipulation." They nodded. "Good. Practice till you run out of chakra. Cut the ground or something if you think you have it working."
"Sakura, follow me to my quarters. We will get started."
Sakura smiled and grinned before saying, "Really?" She quickly hurried after. A short time later, she found herself naked save for panties and lying on a thin sheet set over a tall dining room table.
Tsunade said quietly, "Hinata spends more than a little bit of time on that table getting what you want, save in her case it is medically necessary if she wants to use chakra again. It causes her a great deal of pain."
"Just do it."
Tsunade nodded and began, carefully and very slowly feeding purified medical chakra into Sakura at various tenketsu around her body.
Sakura began to whimper. The whimpers got louder minute after minute as more and more purified energy was fed into her.
An hour later Tsunade stopped. She said, "I know tnat it hurts. The energy stretches your coils even as it heals them. The process is continuous and will continue to repeat until either your coils rupture or you accommodate the new level of chakra."
"I know." she sobbed. "I just never thought it would be so painful!"
"And now you know. The choice to continue or not is yours. I'm going to dispel now to save my real self from an even larger headache. She will no doubt be by soon to check on you, but everything looks good so far."
"Thank you Sensei."
Tsunade nodded before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
-«oOo»-
Tsunade was eating dinner with Shizune when she got her clone's memories. She groaned before lightly tapping her head against the wall. "You were right you know. I think Naruto's chakra made my clone slightly stupid."
"What did she do?"
"Sakura came up with a plan to stretch her coils using Naruto's medical chakra, which was partly based on Nature chakra. Wisely, she wanted to wait till Naruto's skill at medical chakra was way better than he was apt to get anytime soon. My clone decided that since it was partly made of the stuff, and had the control to use it fairly well, that it could just do it. The first surgery just finished."
"Just like that? Sakura talked your clone into an incredibly risky surgery, just like that?"
"No, my clone tried to talk her out of it. Not as hard as she should have, but she did."
"What was the outcome?"
"So far, so good, well other than the pain. I don't think Sakura was expecting that."
"Good," said Shizune. "A good medic nin should have more caution than that. Perhaps a few hours of pain will help to instill that caution into her."
"Doubt it," Tsunade said. "She knew what she was getting into."
Tsunade ate another few bytes from her plate before getting up. "I'm going to go check on idiot number two. Enjoy your evening."
"Should I come as well?"
"Nah. Chakra is best here. I'll handle it."
Sakura did not enjoy her evening. It got worse when Tsunade arrived.
After she left, Hinata came and talked with her for awhile. Hinata, it seemed, was deeply interested in the process, since she hoped that this variant could speed up her rate of progress. After she left there she knocked on the blond Sannin's door.
"Come in Hinata."
Hinata opened the door and came in. "Am I that predictable?"
"Only in certain ways. Your determination to gain strength; to do whatever is possible to make sure Naruto lives in the future does make you somewhat predictable, at least sometimes."
"There is nothing more to be done save to take it into account. I have done the best I can."
Tsunade nodded before walking over to the window overlooking the valley. She said, "You know, it is not well known, but I can actually manipulate Nature chakra, at least with Katsuyu's help. Sadly, it takes quite a bit of setup time and I'm not very good at it, so it doesn't really help in combat, and using that to heal would be unwise."
"I'm assuming your mix is separate parts forced together like apparently every other sage."
"Yea. I don't know how the gaki does it. Of course he doesn't know how he does it either. An Uzumaki trait perhaps, well that or something to do with the Kyuubi or the seal."
"So, if you were going to replicate the procedure, you would need to use Naruto's medical chakra again?"
"You mean if I was to replicate the results. You are already getting an even more complex procedure, because of your more complex issues."
Hinata nodded.
"Yes. From all accounts what my clone did earlier worked. The nature chakra mix, for lack of better terminology does seem to help hold things together so I can up the pressure. My clone could have even pushed a bit harder probably. I still don't like it. The incorrect and slightly incomplete conversion he does is apt to cause some long term mess I can't fully predict. I'll also have to absorb the chakra myself, which has its own risks, but I'll not risk continuing to have clones do surgery. Who knows what the long term affects of this kind of thing are? Heck, I'm not convinced that Shizune's sarcasm wasn't right and the infusion made the clone stupider for agreeing to it."
Hinata said, "I talked with Naruto as well. I would like a list of all the chakra exercises you know. I don't need them all now, but a few would be helpful."
"Your going to help him master them?" asked the Slug summoner.
"I'm going to take advantage of local resources, which happens to include one Neji Hyuga. My clan has the ultimate advantage when it comes to learning chakra control, and yet we seldom use it beyond learning Jyuken. I know for a fact that there are a few branch family members that would consider learning medical ninjutsu, save for we already have a very impressive medic, and that is all the clan needs, according to some."
"Bastards," muttered Tsunade.
"You have no idea," said Hinata quietly. "No idea at all."
