I don't own Naruto.
Bold is supernatural speech.
Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, things of that sort.
A/N: This story will likely be no more than twenty chapters, unless I get people who simply must have it go on, but even then, I've already shown the end, and it will only be so much longer, I've got other stories I want to write and writing three at a time is already hard enough.
-Chapter Nine: Five years later-
Naruto woke at sunrise, the same thing he did every morning, rousing the students that lived with him. Each and every one continued, he'd made sure that none of them had failed. Personally seeing to every student was a difficult task. He didn't use individual gravity seals on them, instead he had placed one on the training grounds, so that anyone who walked into the perimeter would instantly be effected. This effected the students in that they would all be given the same amount of gravity amplification, and the seals fed off the natural energy of the grounds.
This was the morning when his last student would turn fifteen. He changed the method of Genpuku, but it was the same ceremony. His students sat in rank and file, alphabetic order, they sat in seiza, their wooden katana on their left side, the wooden wakizashi was in their belt. Behind them was a staff, no visible marking was on them, it was simply a pole of wood. Their bow also sat with their staff.
Naruto stood in front of his students, Itachi was also sitting in seiza, as he was the sempai of the class he sat behind Naruto, facing the class.
"Today is the day that you all become samurai!" Naruto said in a strong voice. "None of you will fail, and you will all be given the swords that I have forged with these very hands." Naruto held out his hands. He was taught sword smithing when he was with Mitsurugi, by the man who made his swords. "And then you will pledge your sword to the Hokage, you will no longer be my students, but my equals." Naruto looked over his students. "Stand!" They all stood, placing their swords in their belts, and taking up their staves, forty five soon to be samurai were standing at attention.
"Pair off." There were twenty two pairs, and then Itachi paired with the last student. "Your first test will be that of your sword skills. Strike not with your sword, but your soul." They stood in line, each holding their swords, ready to strike.
Naruto watched, each of the wooden blades struck, he determined who attacked, and who attacked. Those who passed at first returned to their seiza, those who didn't were paired up and told to go again. This happened until one student remained.
"Sensei, I'll pair up with him." Itachi said, he'd gotten used to calling Naruto his teacher.
"No, I will." Naruto stood in front of the teenage boy. "Strike with your soul, with everything you have." Naruto drew his katana. "Or you will die." The boy stood at the ready, his sword in hand. He felt the boys chakra spike as he attacked, this is what he wanted. He blocked the sword, and parried, stopping just short of the boy's neck. "You are strong, but hesitant. Do not hesitate, if one bears his sword against you. Kill him." Naruto sheathed his blade. "Get your bow."
"But sensei-"
"GET THE BOW!" Naruto shouted. The boy nodded and got his bow. "Now shoot me. If you hesitate, you will be killed." Naruto took his spear in his hand, prepared to throw it. The boy stood, looking at his target, who was his teacher.
"I must do this." He remembered all that Naruto had given him, a shelter, the Bushido, everything he was. He drew the string and fired. Naruto caught the arrow.
"Good. Now sit with your classmates." Naruto handed him the arrow.
The next test was the test with the staff. It was believed by the ancient samurai that if a man could use only the last six inches of a staff then he was a master spearman, that was the reason that they were issued staves not spears, to test true mastery.
It was similar to last time, but every student passed this time, Itachi had attained the rank of Samurai two years ago, since he was older and already physically matured he could deal with the stresses of a faster paced training regiment. He tested the person that was always left, the pairings always switched up, so he tested a great number of people.
Finally it was a test of archery. They stood in rows, fifteen long, three deep. Traditional Samurai archery was different than the archery of the ninja and civilian groups. Each student drew his arrow above his head, forward hand coming down first, and then the rear hand following while the arrow was drawn. The first row fired, and moved out of the way, the second row fired, and finally, the third fired.
With fifteen targets standing at a range of twenty meters, there was three arrows in each. Every student had passed their archery test on their first try.
"Good, each of you has passed all three tests I have given you so far. Now for one more. Groups of five!" This was a test that Naruto had never been given, but there was no exact methods of testing. "Now I want one person to step away from each group." This happened quickly, the students had learned to almost read the thoughts of their comrades. "remove your swords from your belt, those of you that stepped away, and hand them to your group." They all stood with just wakizashi. "Now sit in seiza."
"Naruto." Itachi whispered. "What are you doing."
"You'll see." He replied. "Now those in the four man group, attack the person in seiza." Four Samurai trainees attacked one. Many groups had different outcomes, but it went mostly the same.
The sitter, sensing a person behind him rolled forward, as he came up he would draw his wakizashi and 'kill' the first person, taking their katana they would proceed to neutralize all other threats. Some groups would lose two or three, while the fourth would 'kill' the sitter. Others lost all of them, but the fourth would strike as the sitter did, thus killing everyone in the group.
Naruto was proud, they were striking with what would be killing strokes, and they fought until they either died or killed their enemies, just as a true Samurai would.
"I want all of you to know something." He said, sitting with them, they were in a large circle instead of rank and file. "Growing up, I was like almost all of you, I was a ward of state, an orphan. Those of you who have parents, love them with everything you are. My father died the day I was born, as well as my mother, so I've been alone from day one." He started. "Until I met my first sensei."
He continued to tell his story, saying how everyone he loved was someone he would lay down his life for without regret.
"Itachi here is like an older brother to me." He patted Itachi on his back. "He was technically a criminal for eight years." He smiled. "He killed his family because they were plotting against what he loved."
Itachi also smiled. "He fulfilled the meaning of what it means to be a ninja, and even the Samurai. He threw away everything he had for the sake of those he loved. The village" Naruto said.
"I want each and every one of you to live your life knowing that there may be a day where your loved ones will be threatened, and that You have what it will take to protect them. In this way you will all be Hokage, protecting your loved ones, even at the cost of your life."
"Now stand up, back in rank and file, You need to be given your swords." Naruto said.
After nearly half an hour of going back and forth to retrieve the blades he spent nearly two years crafting with Itachi, he called each student up and gave them their Daisho and spear.
Forty five Samurai were standing in front of him, spears fixed to shafts, swords in their belt they all bowed at once.
Over the next three months, the forty five members of the Samurai militia either found their own housing, or stayed with Naruto. Six total stayed, one of which was the boy whom he tested himself, his name was Kazunoko Arima. He was a wiry boy with brown hair, he wore it long and in a ponytail.
The Hyuuga clan had already began to recreate itself. Neji had married Kasumi Tenten two years ago, they'd had two children, twins. Hinata was engaged to Inuzuka Kiba, they were to be married in six months. Itachi was seeing Ichiraku Ayame, they'd been dating for almost two years.
Naruto and Sakura had stayed together, and their relationship had been five years of pure bliss, every morning she would wake up and watch as he trained the students. Currently her and Naruto were sparring, he used a wooden katana, while she chose a Chokuto, for she had started using the Kusanagi. Originally she had planned on letting it remain a simple art piece, sitting about in the house, but something drew her to the blade, and she had requested from Naruto that he teach her kenjutsu.
The blows had obviously been pulled by both, Naruto's Bushi instincts made it difficult, but he managed. Every time he managed to beat her, but her sword strokes looked a little more like those of a master.
"You're thinking about it too much." He said. "It is not just a physical art, you must let your soul be part of it. Strike with everything, but do not think. No mind." Naruto said.
Sakura cleared her mind, focusing only on her blade, the way it sat in her hands, the feel of the air, and then she sensed it, Naruto had swung, she dodged, letting her very spirit guide her movements. Each move was made, Naruto felt her moves, and moved accordingly, and it was the same with her. Finally the wooden blades came to a stop, both came to at the neck of the other.
"Good." It was then that Sakura had realized that Naruto's eyes were closed.
"You can beat me with your eyes closed!" Sakura felt as though she hadn't advanced at all.
"When you learn to move based on your sixth sense, your eyes, ears and physical senses don't matter. Let me show you something even more amazing." He set his sword down. "Attack." Naruto held his hands at his waist level, as if they were resting on a cane. Sakura obliged, knowing she was about to see something amazing.
The blow she was sure would hit struck only air. She felt the hand on her wrist, and tried to counter it, but his other hand had already tightened on her left.
In a flash, her sword was gone, and Naruto had his forearm resting lightly against her throat.
"Whether or not I have a sword, or any weapon in my hands doesn't matter, as long as I know how to move." He handed her the sword. "If you move right, you may never have to strike."
The lessons continued like this for a long while, as they often did. Arima watched, eager to learn anything that could make the combat he may have to face end quicker. Being a kind soul by nature was reinforced by the teachings that Naruto had. Teachings of good intentions and actions, mindfulness and love. He really hated the idea of killing, but at the same time he knew it may be the only way to save whoever he was protecting.
Arima was watching Naruto carefully, recording every movement when he stopped mid swing.
"Arima, I don't believe I have ever told you of the first time I took a life." he asked to be alone with his student. "I killed him with his own sword." He took the jo staff off his wall. "Take this." He handed the bokken to him.
"Sensei, how is it that we learn to act with such precision on instinct?"
"It's simple Arima, we train without thought, we think of only our purpose, which is to complete each movement perfectly. We never think of our enemy, only movement."
"I see, so it's like you said to Sakura. When you put your soul into your movement, your physical being simply follows your soul."
"Exactly. What are you going to fight for when the day comes?" Naruto asked the young Samurai.
"I will fight so that I'll never have to kill." Arima said. "I'll fight so that people don't have to study arts of killing."
"Then you are my most accomplished student already." He smiled. "The others are masters of blade and bow, but you are a master who seeks to create peace, and because of that I'm going to show you the Ougi to this style. Something none of the others know." Naruto had been by his master that he would know which of his students he would pass the mastery technique on to. Arima was the one.
Arima would be seen for a long time on the grounds practicing a technique that none of them knew. Many former students came to the Namikaze asking why he didn't teach them.
"Because you asked me. Arima is seeking only to bring peace. He is the only one worthy of the technique. You seek power, not peace." He would answer.
Very few of them actually just accepted it, five total. Many times they would ask what Arima was doing, and receive the honest answer.
"He's learning the mastery of the style." The ones who had accepted that he had something they didn't simply nodded, and tried to gain some knowledge from it.
Weeks passed and eventually Arima got a handle on the Tachi no Kasai, Naruto returned to his assassinations, while the Samurai simply stayed in the village, policing the land and allowing ANBU to return to their former glory.
Naruto had returned from his last mission, the circumstances were strange, he was acting as a waiting assassin.
-flashback, a week ago-
Naruto had been sent to Snow country to kill an assassin. The suspect was trying to kill a woman who was next in line for the throne. They had no idea of what the man looked like so they simply had Naruto act as a sort of bodyguard whose orders were to kill anyone who might try and kill his client.
They were sitting at a tea house, Naruto had of course ordered his own tea when it happened.
The seat across her exploded inward, Naruto had jumped in front of her and gotten her out of harms way.
"So you've gotten Samurai help this time eh? No matter, I've killed plenty of them in my time." The man had long steel claws on his fingers, the backs of his fingers were covered in armor, jointed all the way up to his plate mail gauntlet.
"You have never fought one like me." Naruto placed his hand on his sword. In a second he'd drawn, only to have it blocked by the assassin's claws.
"A fast one you are! This will be more fun!" The man's voice oozed with insanity. Naruto drew his wakizashi in a reverse grip, but the man jumped away. "Sneaky too!" He laughed maniacally.
Swinging wildly with his clawed hand, Naruto dodged almost all of the strokes until he hit a wall.
"Too Slow!" The assassin lunged, Naruto smiled, and as the killer jumped, Naruto held out his blade, impaling the man. But the man pushed on, Naruto took the blade in his left hand, thrusting it through the man's clavicle. The grinning maniac now stood, impaled and dead on the blades. Naruto pushed the corpse off his blades, wiped them clean, and sheathed both.
He began cleaning up the wooden splinters, waiters and waitresses looked on in fear.
"If you could get me a mop, I'll clean up the blood, I apologize for the damages, send the bill to Konoha, I'll pay for them." Naruto said to one waiter, who nodded.
Returning with a mop and bucket, he began cleaning up the red plasma. The owner came out and saw the man laying there, dead.
"Please help me take the body out back." He asked Naruto when he finished. Naruto lifted the body up and took it outside.
"You used Mitsurugi no Tenchi Ryu, who are you?" The man asked when they stepped out.
"I'm simply a Samurai with ties to Konoha."
"I've been hearing rumors of a man who was killing people in the name of Konoha, he's said he uses the Tenchi style, but I used to be friends With Tenchi, so I knew that this one wasn't the right man. How is he?"
"He's good, I've not seen him in five years, but we keep in touch." Naruto smiled. "Can you give me a description of the man who's claiming to be me?"
"I think I can do it well enough." The man drew on his memories. "He was a bit shorter than you, black hair, longer in the front than in back, he wasn't quite as lean as you, much thinner. And he had dark eyes." Naruto's expression darkened. "And he used a Chokuto, that was a dead give away."
"Thank you, I've got a good idea of the man now." Naruto instantly knew who was sullying the name of his style. "I've got to go, thank you sir." Naruto bowed and left to get his client.
-flashback: End-
Naruto had gone to get authorization to hunt down the Uchiha, he couldn't have the man destroying the reputation of his art.
At home, Sakura seemed to be pondering something, Arima sat next to her.
"What's wrong Sakura-san?" He asked.
"I can't figure out how he does it." She said. "No one should be that fast, it's more than thirty times his top speed, I know it is."
"It's his movement. The way that Mitsurugi no Tenchi Ryu teaches you to move is the secret." He demonstrated this with a question. "Which is more important when an arrow is flying at you, when you move or how you move?"
"Well it's when, obviously- How did I not realize that?!" It hit her like a ton of bricks. "So it's just that he's timing it better than I am, not that he's that much faster than me."
"Yeah, like Tsunade-sama's strength training, if you use them in unison, then you'll seem much faster than you really are." Arima smiled. "the gravity seals simply condition the body so that we're faster than anyone else."
A knock at the gate was heard, they both stood up and went from the bench to the gate.
An ANBU was standing with a letter. It read:
"Dear Sakura and all my friends in my home,
I've gone to hunt someone down, it seems that a certain black haired swordsman has sullied the name of our art, and because of that I must go kill him. It may be anywhere from a week to a month that I'm gone. I'll see you when I do. I love you Sakura, and Arima, please help her keep the other housemates in line.
Signed,
Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.
Sakura looked at the letter, and instantly knew what was going on.
-??-
Sneaking always came naturally to him, right now he was sneaking down a hallway, sword in hand. It was pitch black in the hallway during the night, he didn't need his eyes though, he had his other senses. His target lay sleeping in his bed, he carefully snuck up and cut the throat of his mark, stabbing his blade through the skull to ensure a death.
Wiping off his blade he made a quick escape, setting fire to the house on his way out, dropping a scroll as he left the grounds, heading for his next kill.
-Chapter Nine: End-
Author's Notes: I'm sorry this took so long to complete, but it's been hectic, starting school, changing my work schedule, training with my sensei and friends, and we're doing renovations in my home, so writing has been hard. I hope this chapter at least made the wait a little bit worth it. And I ended it with a cliffhanger because it's going to help me get into the next chapter quicker if I have somewhere to start. I'll update as soon as my schedule allows. Any questions, comments, suggestions, write a comment and I'll try and put your words to use.
